Daphne's Slave
by CreatorZorah
Summary: After being kidnapped by Death Eaters after Quidditch World Cup, Harry must choose between becoming Daphne's slave and letting himself and his friends killed by Death Eaters.
1. Chapter 1: Enslavement

**A/N:**

I don't know if I will continue it, I'm not a writer. Yes, it's a femdom story, but no, there will be NO Lemons or almost no lemons :D.

I want to assure you that there won't be cruel abuse/torture here, just a playful one. My Daphne isn't a sadistic Bellatrix :D. But, like I said in my profile, I'm a super pervert, you should expect strange things from me :D. Furthermore, I'm sure I won't turn it into Hurt/Comfort or Angst, since I don't like these genres.

I'm not a fan of Ron Weasley.

I don't own Harry Potter, characters, or, well, anything.

Thanks to **ghostalker15** for beta reading the chapter.

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**Chapter 1: Enslavement.**

Harry sat in a dark room without windows. His legs were chained to the wall and he was looking at a barely visible door. Behind it were his friends Ron and Hermione. He didn't try to call for them, since he didn't want to attract the attention of their captors. He was quite relieved that they were alive and he hoped that someone would free them. The problem was, not a soul knew where they were and there was only a small chance that someone would find them.

How did it even come to this? He was happy to see professional quidditch with his own eyes; the World Cup game had been wonderful. Everything was wonderful, but then the Death Eaters came. People panicked and the trio tried to stay safe, but in the end they were caught, stunned, and brought to this place. His wand was right in front of him, but it was still unreachable. That man in black placed it there so that Harry would feel helpless and useless, and it was working. It was torture to see the wand but be unable to reach it.

He started when a door to the left opened with a loud squeak. He looked at his visitor and after a few seconds was able to see a blond girl. She somehow looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her. Sure, in Hogwarts, but where? The girl was beautiful and he couldn't help but stare at her in awe. Perhaps it was the situation he was in, but she looked like an angel to him. He stood up.

"Hello, Potter," she said.

"Do I know you?" asked Harry.

She smiled and approached him. Then she touched his hair and he couldn't help but blush. "No, but we're in the same year at Hogwarts. You wouldn't notice me though, you never look at Slytherins. You're so infatuated with Malfoy that I would think that you're playing for the other team." She giggled. "Are you?"

"No! Of course not!" he exclaimed. "But why are you here? Are you with... them?"

"I'm here to save you and your friends. I saw them cursing you three and taking you away, and managed to place a tracking spell on you and came here. Fortunately, you're not well guarded right now."

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes. But you have to know that I do nothing for free. Why would I? Saving you is dangerous for me and my family. That's why the price will be very difficult to accept."

"You need money? I have enough money."

She laughed and shook her head. "My family is the wealthiest in the wizarding world, Potter, while your family was quite poor compared to mine. Why would I need money from you?"

"Then what do you want?"

"Servitude. I'll free you and your friends if you take a certain ring and activate it."

"What do you mean by servitude?" he asked.

"This is an ancient ring, a treasure of our family. I have three: the Master Ring and two Slave Rings. My family believes it's just a legend, but I'm willing to try."

He closed his eyes and asked, "You want me... to become your slave?"

"Yes. If the rings don't work I'll still help you to get away from here."

The idea of being slave was horrible, but he would do it if that would ensure Ron and Hermione's safety. The problem was he didn't trust her. Well, her beauty was clouding his mind, but still... he didn't even know her name. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Daphne Greengrass," she replied.

"Why should I trust you? How do I know you're not with these people, that you aren't one of Voldemort's followers? How do I know if you'll free Ron and Hermione after I take the ring?"

She looked at him for a few seconds and nodded. "I'll give you a magical oath," she said. "I, Daphne Greengrass, swear on my magic that I am not, and never will, work for or help Voldemort or his followers willingly, knowingly or without reason. I swear on my magic that I am unaware of any occurrence of my family working with or helping them. I swear on my magic that once you become my slave I'll help Ron and Hermione and I swear on my magic that I won't force you to fight for Voldemort," she finished and her wand glowed. "**Lumos.**" She smiled and said, "As you see I can still do magic. Was that enough?"

"I..." he hesitated. "I don't know… What will you do with me?"

"Everything I want," she whispered grinning. "Everything. I'm not the usual girl and have certain drives."

He blushed madly and asked, "You mean..."

"Well, I didn't mean _that_," she deadpanned. "Let's say, I like to see powerful men or women on their knees before me. Don't worry, perhaps you'll even like it."

Harry wondered if he really would like it, but there was no other choice. No one would come to save them. He had to save Ron and Hermione. He was a bit angry with Daphne, but he understood that she had no reason to save them. If that was the price to save their lives he was willing to pay. "I agree" he said.

"Good," she said with a smile and handed him a simple silver ring. "Put it on and say that you agree to be my slave."

He put it on reluctantly and whispered, "I agree to be your slave."

Suddenly he felt heat like his finger was on fire. If was quite painful but he managed to stay silent. Then the pain was gone and Harry looked at his hand. The ring has vanished, leaving a burn mark behind.

"It worked," she said wide-eyed and then smiled. "I never imagined it would work! How did you manage to think that you really want to become my slave?"

Harry frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The ring accepted your wish. You had to _wish _to be my slave. I hoped it would work, but I doubted it. I guess you somehow reasoned that the price I asked for was adequate..." She shook her head and continued, "And you're kind of dumb, Potter."

Harry scowled, but managed to say calmly, "I'm not."

"Yes you are, and I don't want my slave to be stupid. The Oaths I swore were completely useless. Let's start with the first one. I swore you that I won't be working for Voldemort without a reason." She snickered. "I didn't say what kind of reason. I could like to work for him, for example, and that would be a reason. Not that I would. Then I swore that I don't know if my family is working for him, but they may! I said I would help Ron and Hermione; I can force you to kill them and that would help them, since they won't be tortured for weeks after you and I leave them here. I swore that I wouldn't force you to fight Voldemort, but I can force you to fight for me while fighting for Voldemort. Besides, you're my slave now and all my oaths to you are irrelevant, because I own you. But to forget to ask me about the ring is just… honestly, how could you be that stupid agreeing to be my slave under those conditions?"

He could barely breathe from shame. He was so stupid. The dread of the whole situation began to sink in and he paled. Would he be able to resist if she'd order him to kill Ron and Hermione? He agreed, but he had no idea how the ring worked.

"Potter, that doesn't mean that I would hand you over to Death Eaters or force you to kill your friends… just use your brain from now on to avoid situations like this." She sighed and grinned evilly, "Let's try something. Kneel and kiss my feet."

Before he knew he fell down on his knees and tried to resist her order. But then he felt pain and it was getting worse very fast. Soon enough he couldn't resist anymore and kissed her feet.

"_Greengrass_…" he hissed angry while standing up.

"It's Mistress to you, Potter."

This was unfair. Would he ever be happy? He suppressed his tears and managed to mutter "Yes, Mistress."

She smiled with satisfaction and pointed her wand at chains and exclaimed, "**Alohomora!**" unlocking the irons. "You can free Hermione and Ron yourself. I used stunners and body-binding curses on the scum that kidnapped you three. They won't wake up for another hour," she said and continued using the ring, "Don't tell anyone that you're my slave and make sure no one realizes that you are one without my permission. Furthermore, don't mention me helping you today."

"I understand" he said.

"You forgot something" she reminded him.

"I understand, Mistress."

"Meet me on the platform nine and three quarters at ten o'clock."

"Yes, Mistress."

Daphne giggled and said, "Good, you're learning fast. Good-bye, my lovely slave." Then she left the room leaving Harry alone.

He shook his head and ran to Ron and Hermione, then quickly unchained and woke them using simple spells. The moment Hermione opened her eyes she saw Harry's face and threw herself onto him whispering through tears, "You're alright! Thank Merlin you're alright. We thought they killed you."

He couldn't help but smile. He was happy. The price was completely worth it. He would do it again if it meant that Ron and Hermione would be alive and well.

"I'm alright Hermione," he said and turned to Ron, "How are you?"

"I'm fine mate" the red-head answered. "How did you manage to free yourself?"

He wanted to tell them about Daphne but found himself unable to utter a word about her. With a sigh he lied: "The Death Eater placed my wand right in front of me but out of my reach. I called it wandlessly somehow. Let's go, we should get out of here."


	2. Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

**A/N:**

Thanks to **ghostalker15** for beta reading the chapter.

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**Chapter 2: Questions and Answers.**

Daphne was pleased with herself. Very pleased, in fact. He was her slave. She couldn't wait to do all those pleasurable things with the Boy-Who-Lived. She loved to have complete control over him. It was so convenient that those foolish Death Eaters attacked the tents. It gave her so much room for her manipulations. Daphne was, however, a bit disappointed in Harry's intellect. Maybe it was the weasel that made him dumb? She decided to severe their friendship. It wouldn't do any good if her slave was a fool. How could he believe that she, a fourth year student, managed to track him down and stun Death Eaters? Honestly he was so stupid…she thought back to her meeting with the men she hired:

_Four men were standing in front of her waiting for her to say something. "Take these potions, like we agreed," she told them and handed four phials with a blue potion._

"_May I ask why we needed to kidnap the Boy-Who-Lived and then pretend to be stunned?" said one of the men._

"_You would forget it either way. Take it."_

"_Damn, I hate memory potions," he cursed and drank the potion. Others did the same. A few moments later he said, "So… I assume the job you hired us for is done."_

"_Yes. Thank you for your services. Like always: no questions, no answers. You weren't here, we didn't meet, and I didn't hire you."_

"_Of course, Ms. Greengrass."_

"_Here is your payment," she said and gave them each two hundred galleons._

"_It was a pleasure to work with you, Ms. Greengrass," he said and the four disappeared with a pop._

It wasn't Death Eaters who captured Potter and his friends. They were captured by mercenaries she hired for the mission. Those four worked for years with her family and Daphne was already considered old enough by her parents to use them. It was quite easy. They took a potion before a mission and then another potion after mission. This way all memories between would be completely erased.

"Hey, Daphne, where were you?" Astoria asked her when she saw her stepping out of the fireplace. "Mother was worried."

"Do I look like I care? I had matters to attend," she replied coldly.

Daphne didn't like her little sister. She was an empty-headed emotional idiot, but still… she was family. Astoria was her mother's favorite, while Daphne was much more comfortable around her father. Sometimes she wondered why father chose Creusa. Her mother and Astoria were so much alike… Well, Creusa was considered one of the most beautiful witches and many men would fall at her feet, but Daphne could barely imagine her father choosing a wife based on her looks. He was way too calculating for it. Perhaps he had to take the best looking girl to maintain reputation, who knows?

She shook her head and headed to her room. Daphne had a lot to plan and do. She wanted to make her slave more adequate for her, but she wouldn't have much time in Hogwarts to worry about it. Then she had an idea. She could use his bushy-haired girl friend… Granger. She was a bright witch, a bit bookish and insecure, but still she could be a good influence on him. That presented a lot more things to plan. Daphne hoped she wouldn't get mad because of all these manipulations.

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Harry was brooding, sitting under a tree not far from the Burrow. It had been two days since he became a slave. Nothing really changed so far, but he knew as soon he met Greengrass again everything would change. What would she force him to do? Suddenly he could think of so many things he wouldn't want to do. Harry remembered him kissing her feet. It wasn't that bad, but if she forced him to do something like this to Draco… he would rather die. '_What the bloody hell was I thinking agreeing to it?_' he cursed inwardly.

Hermione was another problem. She was bugging him to get answers. She asked too many questions. She wasn't convinced that he was able to stun four wizards. Why the hell? Daphne was able, but he wasn't? Did Hermione think so little of him? It was tricky to produce good answers, why he went after Death Eaters before releasing Hermione and Ron to help. He gave an honest one: he did it to keep his friends safe. Fortunately, the bushy-haired witch could believe that. Harry was the kind of person to do_'something stupid like that'_. Merlin, even Hermione agreed that he was stupid. He sighed.

"What's wrong, Harry?" he heard Hermione asking.

He looked at her and seeing her worried face, smiled. "I'm fine, Hermione."

"Merlin, Harry. Your fine may mean anything. Even when you're on the brink of death you would say that you're fine."

"It's just I realized a few things."

"Like what?"

"I was useless. They managed to capture us and I couldn't do a thing," he said and gritted teeth.

"They were fully trained wizards and we're just starting our fourth year. Besides you managed to defeat them."

"I just caught them off guard."

"Yeah, but still it was a stupid thing to do."

"Hermione, not again! I know that was a stupid thing to do, but you know that I do things without thinking first."

"Is that why you're upset?" she asked noticing that he was almost disgusted with himself while saying it.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh.

She sat next to him and said, "I didn't mean to upset you. It's an admirable thing to keep friends safe no matter what. But Harry, if you'd failed, we would have lost any chance of getting away from there."

It was frustrating him that they were speaking about a false story. He could very well imagine himself going alone against Death Eaters though and that depressed him.

"Maybe I should quit quidditch and start learning things for a change."

She smiled and said, "Well, I wouldn't mind. Don't know why you like the stupid game. Even muggle sports are so much better. Besides, studying would make you more disciplined and even-tempered, because you would learn to think things over. I don't even have to mention that you could play sports in the muggle world, while studying magic is sort of the benefit of the wizarding world."

"You're right, but I like quidditch. I feel so free…" he stopped abruptly and scowled. Free. He was a slave now.

"Well, you don't have to stop playing quidditch. There is still plenty of time where you just goof around with Ron. I would really love your company in the library."

He smiled weakly and said her, "You're great friend, Hermione. I'll try to be with you more…"

'…_If Greengrass allows me_,' he finished to himself.

"I'll be waiting," she said with a smile. Then she sighed and continued, "We're so lucky we got away from them. I can't believe that this time we managed to get into a life and death situation even before the year actually started."

He laughed. "Yeah, normally it's quite peacefully until Halloween." He frowned and added, "If it's that bad before the year started, how bad will it be on Halloween or at the year's end?"

She paled a bit and tried to reassure him, "Let's hope that this year will be different."

"I'm not so sure. I…" he hesitated, but forced himself to continue, "I had a dream about Voldemort on Saturday. It was very lucid and it didn't feel like a normal dream. When I woke up my scar was hurting."

Hermione's eyes widened and she exclaimed, "What? Why didn't you tell someone earlier? What was it about? I'll have to check the books for any references about… maybe there is information about dreams that…"

"Whoa, Hermione, slow down."

She blushed and nodded, still very worried. "Sorry. What was that dream about?"

"I forgot most of it, but I saw Wormtail with him and they were plotting something." He hesitated to say that he was the target, seeing how horrified Hermione was, but then he thought about Greengrass and decided that he had enough of trying to keep friends safe for this week, "I'm sure it has something to do with me. Besides that, they killed someone, but what's worrying me is that I had the dream only a few days before that Death Eater attack."

"Maybe you should speak with Dumbledore or Madam Pomfrey about it," she suggested.

"I'll think about it. I sent a letter about the scar to Sirius with Hedwig, but he didn't answer yet."

"He could be far away. It may take time, Harry," she said reassuringly.

"I..."

He was interrupted by sudden yell, "Hey, Harry! Come play a game of quidditch, three on three!"

He frowned and yelled back, "I'm not in the mood Ron!"

"Oh, come on, Harry, don't be a killjoy!" Ron replied.

"He won't take 'no' for an answer" Harry whispered to Hermione with a sigh.

She laughed and nodded. "It seems he won't." Then the smile on her face faded and she said, "Please, Harry, don't keep these things to yourself. I'm your friend and I'll always be there for you."

He felt extremely guilty that he couldn't tell her the truth about Greengrass. However when he imagined her freaking out when she learned he was a slave, he shuddered. She reacted badly enough to house-elves, but to learn that her friend was no better than one… No he wouldn't tell her even if he could. "Thanks, Hermione. I really appreciate it."

"Harry!" Ron yelled again. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah!" he replied, stood up and said to Hermione, "It was nice to talk to you about things."

She smiled and said, "You should do it more often, then."


	3. Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express

**A/N: **Wow, the story is quite popular… 20 favorites overnight. Couldn't imagine it.

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**B/N:** Hi everyone, ghostalker15 here. I'm very excited to be helping out with this story, and if you've read the original un-betaed versions, you'll notice that they were mostly in British-English, but since I'm from America and Word has squiggly lines under those terms, I changed them to American-English. Oh, and if anyone reads Naruto or Naruto fanfiction, CreatorZorah isn't a pervert, but a SUPER PERVERT! hehehe

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**Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express.**

Harry was getting more and more frustrated. It was getting late and he could feel the tug from Daphne's ring. He shuddered when he thought about what the ring would do to him if he were late. But the Weasleys were so slow that he doubted they would ever get to the platform nine-and-three quarters.

"Mr. Weasley, I have to be there at 10 o'clock," he said.

"That's too early!" Arthur said with a smile.

"I have to. It's important. I wouldn't say so otherwise."

"Don't be ridiculous, we'll get there in time," the man said, and moved away.

Harry could barely hold back an angry roar. He looked at a clock and sighed, it was already thirty minutes past nine and there was no way in hell this family would get to the King's Cross in time for his meeting with Greengrass. He had nothing against the Weasleys, he loved them in fact, but why wouldn't they just listen to him? He cursed, took his belongings and went to the fireplace.

"Harry? Where are you going?" Hermione asked worryingly.

"To the fireplace, obviously," he replied.

"But we still have enough time."

"They want to get there by muggle means. I tried to bloody tell that I need to be there at ten o'clock, but they just didn't listen to me."

"I could go with you then," she suggested.

"Well," he muttered awkwardly, "You don't have to, I want to go alone."

"Oh." She was slightly hurt, but didn't want to impose. "Okay, I mean…"

He wanted to punch himself for saying that. He really had to think before he spoke. Feeling extremely guilty, he interrupted her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. We can go together, but I would need to get away at ten o'clock."

Hermione's face brightened and she said cheerily, "Alright, I'll ask Mrs. Weasley."

"Don't!" he exclaimed in panic. "I mean, she would say 'it's dangerous' or something like that. I really need to get there soon and with her we won't get to the King's Cross for at least another hour. Just write a note for them... or something."

Hermione looked at him with suspicion and said reluctantly "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure. Besides, what could possibly happen there?"

"Shouldn't we get Ron…?"

He winced. It would be difficult to get away from Ron to join Greengrass, and there was no bloody way he could meet her with Ron around. "No, I'm sure it's a bad idea."

"Alright, Harry, but you're telling me what all this is about," Hermione huffed.

Soon they both left one of the public fireplaces at platform nine-and-three quarters and saw the Hogwarts Express. It was early and Hermione was happy that there weren't many students and parents yet.

"It's good to be early for a change," she said. "Besides, we won't have to search for a free compartment."

Harry shrugged and noted, "I don't understand why they use cars to get here at all."

She frowned and whispered lost in thoughts, "I wonder…" Then she shook her head and asked, "Why did you need to be here early?"

"Well… I need to meet someone."

She blinked and repeated, "Someone?"

He cursed inwardly. Hermione and her questions. "A friend of mine," he replied. "We agreed to meet here at ten o'clock."

Hermione sighed in defeat. She could see that he was hiding something, but she was tired of trying to get the truth out of him. It hurt the young witch that he wasn't able to trust her, but she wasn't going to pry anymore. She knew that he could be very stubborn at times and maybe he had a reason to keep it a secret. Maybe it wasn't his secret to share at all.

"I wonder if Weasleys will be angry at us," she said.

"I'm sure Mrs. Weasley will be furious. I bet we'll get howlers from her sooner or later."

Hermione snorted and nodded. "I hope you had a good reason to get here like this. I'll hate to hear from her in the middle of the Great Hall."

"Yeah, I had a very good…"

Before he could end the sentence, he was interrupted, "Ah, you're here already." It was _her_ melodic voice. They turned around and saw Daphne looking at them with interest. This time he could see her under daylight and she still was angelic. It's a mystery how he never noticed her earlier in Hogwarts. It seemed that he just ignored students from Slytherin. "Harry, you didn't tell me that you would be bringing Hermione with you."

Harry was surprised she called him by first name, but reasoned that she did it because of Hermione. He was, however, unsure how to call her. Obviously not Greengrass. 'Mistress' seemed to be wrong as well. "Hello, Daphne," he said cautiously. The blond witch noticed his hesitation and grinned.

"Well, Harry seems to be reluctant to introduce me to you for some reason," Daphne told to Hermione. "I'm Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin fourth year."

The whole situation seemed strange to Hermione and she felt increasingly insecure in front of the beautiful girl, but managed to smile and say "Hermione Granger."

"I know," Daphne replied with a playful smile, "Harry told me a lot about you. He thinks the world of you."

The bushy-haired witch blushed furiously, but remained tense and said "He did? He told me nothing about you."

"Of course he didn't. I asked him to keep it between us. It's very difficult to have friends outside of our House and his friend's attitude towards Slytherins doesn't help."

"You mean Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, the red-haired git."

"He isn't a git," Hermione defended him.

"He is. The only git in their family. He called me… Slytherin whore last year. I bet you wouldn't like to be called like that either."

Hermione looked down feeling embarrassed by her friend's behavior and muttered, "I wouldn't. Excuse him, he's just stupid sometimes."

"Most of the time," Daphne corrected her and asked, "Would you like to join Harry and me in my compartment?"

Hermione noticed how Daphne intoned that a compartment was hers and Harry was going to be there with her. It was strange that she didn't even need to ask Harry if he wanted to share a compartment. However, she couldn't come to the right conclusion, since the truth about Daphne's relationship with Harry was impossible to imagine. She assumed that they agreed to share a compartment in the third year. Besides she was eager to befriend the girl, because she looked intelligent and if she was right, Daphne was on par with her at Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Ancient Runes. Hermione needed a friend like Daphne, a friend who wouldn't need her to do homework, someone with whom she could discuss various magical theories. She wondered, though, how would Ron react to Harry's secret friend…?

"Sure," she said following the Slytherin girl and Harry aboard the train to a compartment. She stowed her luggage and took a seat across from Harry and Daphne looking at the pair. Harry looked uncomfortable, but Hermione knew that he was always shy around girls. The girl, however, seemed very confident and bushy-haired girl wished she had a quarter of Daphne's confidence.

"Have you got dress robes?" Daphne asked Harry, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I have" he answered. "Why?"

"The Triwizard Tournament will take place this year in Hogwarts."

"Triwizard Tournament?" Harry and Hermione asked at the same time.

"Yes, it's a centuries old tournament. Students from other schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive to Hogwarts to compete. A champion will be chosen to represent each school."

"Why didn't I hear anything about it?" Hermione asked.

"Probably because it was discontinued due to the high death toll."

"Death toll?" the Hermione.

"Naturally," Daphne replied, "What would you expect if you'd allow students to fight dragons or acromantulas?"

"That's horrible! Why would something like that even held in Hogwarts?"

"It's Hogwarts, Hermione," Harry noted. "As if trolls, maniacal teachers and basilisks weren't enough."

He could already imagine all the dangers he would face this year. It was exactly like he said to Hermione. He wouldn't be all too surprised if some kind of dangerous creature would break free and go on rampage on Halloween.

Hermione winced and said, "Right."

"Hopefully, no beast would go loose on Halloween," Daphne said receiving a surprised look from Harry. She gave him a mischievous smile and continued, "Anyway, the Yule Ball will be held on the Christmas Day. We would need to find a date and dance. That's why I asked about dress robes. Besides, Harry, I really hope you can dance."

The moment she said the last sentence he knew, that she expected him to be her date. He couldn't help but start to blush. '_It's not all that bad to be her slave. Not bad at all_,' he thought.

Hermione caught the hint too and was happy for Harry, though it seemed strange to her, how they managed to become close without anyone noticing that. At the same time she felt a bit upset that Harry was already taken. He changed somehow after they escaped Death Eaters. She and Harry spoke much and she liked to spend time with him. She sighed.

"Eh…" Harry mumbled. "I can't."

Daphne scowled and took a deep breath. When she spoke he felt that she was using the ring "You have to learn how to dance for the Yule Ball."

"I will learn," he assured.

"I can teach you, if you want…?" Hermione suggested.

"Thanks, you are a lifesaver" Harry said with a smile.

A few minutes later the train began to move and Hermione felt guilty that she and Harry left the Weasleys completely unaware of where they were. Sure they left a note, but the two didn't wait for them on the platform. It was stupid that Ron insulted Daphne. She was really nice, but the red-head's prejudice would make it really difficult for her and Harry to maintain open, friendly relationships with both Ron and Daphne at the same time. She knew that there was no way that Daphne would forgive him for that insult. Hermione wouldn't. It was stupid. Stupid!

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing, Harry," she brushed it off and smiled.

"So," Daphne said to Harry enthusiastically, "Would you like to massage my shoulders?"

Harry gulped and turned red. He knew that it was subtly an order even though she didn't use the ring. Harry nodded and placed his hands on her shoulders and began to massage her. His heart began to beat faster and faster. He could barely stay conscious. It wasn't everyday he was touching a girl like Daphne in this way. Better said, he never touched a girl like Daphne this way. He smiled.


	4. Chapter 4: Black and White

**A/N:** _Originally I intended to write a different fic. But when I unexpectedly started to receive tons of 'FF Favorite' emails every hour, I decided to keep the overall story, but make it milder and more appropriate for the general public. I'd even change the rating of the story to T, but I still want to have room for maneuvering. I may start an additional fic, where I will put my original… thoughts in form of omakes/one-shots. If you want it, please let me know if I should bother :D_

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**B/N: **_Cue Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries _

Hi everyone! ghostalker15 here to say that, as is noticeable in the last few chapters, CreatorZorah now has a beta! ME! xD

Let me know how I'm doing my job in the reviews as well so I can get feedback on how to make the reading both easier and more enjoyable by catching all those elusive typos and errors that Zorah makes hehe.

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**Chapter 4: Black and White**

Halfway to Hogwarts Hermione couldn't sit still anymore. She liked Daphne and was glad that she was able to establish a friendship with her. Hermione had almost no female friends at Hogwarts and that depressed her. Now she had hope that she has another female friend other than Ginny. However, she wanted to talk to the Weasleys; the guilt for abandoning Ron and the others was eating her alive.

"I'll go find the Weasleys," she said at last before standing up, "I feel guilty about how we left them like we did."

"Please, come back later, Hermione. Tracey will come by and I'm sure she will be happy to meet you," Daphne told with a smile.

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can!" Hermione agreed happily. "Are you coming too, Harry?"

He looked at Daphne and saw her smile in a very sly manner. He was sure it was some kind of test, so he said, "I still have something to discuss with Daphne."

"Alright," Hermione said and left the compartment.

He hesitated for a few moments, deciding on how to call her. Would she be angry if he'd called her Daphne? He shook his head and decided to challenge her a little, "May I go, Daphne?" She smiled, but her smile looked... quite scary. Before she could say something he corrected himself quickly, "I mean, Mistress."

Daphne laughed and shook her head, "Not yet." Then she fell silent, but he waited patiently for her to continue. At last she said, "I want you to spend more time with Hermione."

"_What_?" he exclaimed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm just surprised."

Daphne grinned, and said, "Understandable. I don't want you to goof around with Weasley, I want you to learn more about magic and Hermione can help you."

"I'll do it" he said.

"Should I use the ring?"

He blinked and asked, "Are you giving me a choice?"

"Yes. And think about it carefully. If I use it, you will be forced to do as I said. If I don't use the ring, you may start to goof around if you're too weak-willed. Then I would have to punish you and I promise you won't like the punishment."

"You don't have to use the ring, Mistress," he said confident that he wouldn't let her down. '_Wait, where did that thought came from?_' he wondered to himself. '_Won't let her down? Merlin, why did she even bother with these rings?_'

"Good, that's the right answer. You may go now and don't forget that you can't tell anyone about the tournament."

Harry nodded and stood up, but when he reached for the door, he stopped and looked at Daphne. Suddenly he felt bad about leaving her alone in the compartment. "Will you stay here alone, Mistress?"

"Why do you ask?" she inquired.

"You… I mean, I could keep you company… if you wish," he muttered and sighed. He was sure it sounded awkward. "I don't want to impose… well…" '_Merlin's pants! I'm blabbing like an idiot!' _he cursed inwardly.

Daphne laughed and told him "Calm down, Harry. You don't have to worry about me right now. I have other plans. I have my own friends, you know? You may stay…" she frowned, "wherever it is you stay until we reach Hogwarts, that is, unless you want to massage my feet."

"Um… No. I'll see you later," he said turning red quickly.

"Bye, Harry," she said watching him leave the compartment.

When the door was closed, she smiled, shook her head and whispered, "You're so naive, Harry..."

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Harry wandered off through the train searching for Hermione and Ron. Though Daphne said it was alright, he felt guilty leaving her alone like that. Besides, he wanted to be near her to… He sighed. As if he could prevent her from telling other Slytherins about his new situation. What a stupid thought. He doubted, however, that she would. Harry was sure that she didn't want everyone know about that. Besides why did he feel guilty? She bloody enslaved him!

'But on the other hand to have her as a date…' he mused to himself with a stupid grin forming on his face. Being absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't notice his blond nemesis, bumped into Draco and fell down, dragging Malfoy with him.

"Potter, you blind imbecile! Get off of me!"

Said Potter was, however, too busy imagining himself dancing with Daphne so he just said "sorry", stood, and continued on his way leaving a gaping Malfoy and his goons behind. Did he hear that right, Potter really apologized?

But Harry's mind was too far from reality to notice Malfoy. He was able to return to the reality in the next carriage, when he glanced into the compartment and saw an arguing Ron and Hermione:

"I didn't call her Slytherin whore!" Ron exclaimed. "I don't even know who you're talking about!"

Hermione wasn't convinced. "Sure, you didn't. Why would she lie then?"

"Because she is a bloody snake! They're lying bastards!"

Hermione gritted teeth and said, "Don't call her that! She's the kindest girl I've ever met; she's nice and intelligent!"

"Then go to her, bloody Slytherin-lover!" he yelled.

Harry sighed. He hoped that Ron wouldn't hear, but he knew also that that was impossible. How would they explain everything? How would he be able to talk to Daphne in Hogwarts? He was disturbed by what he had heard, and a bit amused at how fiery Hermione was when defending her newfound girl friend. He knew that if she'd know the truth about him and Daphne, Hermione's attitude would be different. But without the facts she saw a beautiful girl, who, unlike the vast majority of the school, was nice to her, was comparable to Hermione's knowledge and rivaled her Hogwarts' marks. A seemingly perfect girl. A few hours in the compartment with Daphne had made Hermione admire his Mistress.

He wanted to tell Hermione to not trust Daphne that easily, but stopped before he could say a word. To say that meant that he himself didn't trust the Slytherin girl, and that would make Hermione very suspicious, and she could conclude that Daphne blackmailed him somehow. Additionally, he had received an order to ensure that no one would realize that he was a slave. He was quite scared to see the consequences of a failed order. It was painful enough to resist the ring but to completely defy…

Hermione tried to storm off, but saw Harry and hesitated. "I don't want to stay with the git in that compartment. I'll take Daphne's offer and join her. Are you with me?" Harry sighed. He liked Daphne, but one day with her made everything so difficult. Hermione noticed his hesitation and said, "I'll go alone then." With that she left Ron's compartment and went towards Daphne's.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered and snapped at Harry, "What were you thinking dragging Hermione to the snake?"

"She's my friend," answered Harry uncomfortably. "But you brought it on yourself. Why did you need to insult Daphne?"

"I didn't! Why do you both believe the snake and not me?"

Harry shook his head. "I didn't mean that. I don't know if you called her a whore or not, and, honestly, I don't care. Even if you did you were probably angry at Malfoy and didn't think clearly. I meant that you insulted her right now."

Ron let out a sigh of relief and uttered, "But I didn't, I just called her a snake."

Harry closed the compartment door and took a place across his friend. "Yeah mate, a bloody snake and a lying bastard. On top of that you made it even worse by calling Hermione a 'bloody Slytherin-lover'. I bet that in Hermione's eyes you just confirmed that you insulted Daphne earlier, even if you didn't."

"Bloody hell…" Ron mumbled.

"Don't worry, she'll come around… I hope. It would be easier if you'd apologize."

"Whatever. Why did you and Hermione run away like that? Mum went mental after she discovered. I bet there'll be a howler."

"I tried to tell your parents that I needed to go, but they didn't listen."

"Yeah" Ron said angrily "To meet a bloody lying bitch."

Harry couldn't help but scowl. "You're not helping, Ron. I don't know how it happened, but Hermione began to admire Daphne. By insulting her you're just alienating Hermione."

"But I didn't insult her in first place. I don't even know how she looks like."

"It's your word against Daphne's and Hermione is inclined to believe..."

He was interrupted, when the compartment's door was opened and he saw grinning faces of Fred and George. "Ickle Harrykins!" the first one exclaimed.

"That was an illustrious prank!" the other said.

"We wouldn't have the guts to vanish like that on our mother," finished Fred.

"And what was the commotion here a few moments ago?" George asked. "It was heard by the whole carriage!"

"What did you do" the other twin asked Ron accusingly "to make our dear Hermione storm off like that?"

"Absolutely nothing" huffed Ron.

Harry rolled his eyes and explained "He insulted her new friend."

"A new friend?" Fred questioned.

"Yeah, Daphne Greengrass" the raven-haired teen answered.

Their eyes widened and Fred asked, "How did _that_ happen?"

Harry was surprised that they knew her and asked, "You know her?"

"Aside from she's the hottest blonde in Hogwarts?" George asked.

"No, not really" Fred said.

Harry blushed at their words, while his thoughts were back to the Yule Ball and his date. That didn't go unnoticed by the twins, so Fred teased, "Gred, I think our Ickle Harrykins has got perverted thoughts about the girl."

Harry's blush grew even stronger, and he protested "I don't have perverted thoughts!"

"Should we tell her about his sinful thoughts, Forge?" George continued ignoring the boy.

"That's a great idea, Gred!" Fred exclaimed and dragged his twin-brother away.

Harry's life was obviously going to change. But how? Harry sighed.


	5. Chapter 5: Girl Talk

**A/N: **I had no intent to write so much about Hogwarts Express, but it kind of happened :D

**B/N: **Say no more! This chapter is now betaed ^^

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**Chapter 5: Girl Talk.**

Daphne was looking out of the window, recalling her conversations with both Hermione and Harry. It was important to not make any mistakes. For now she was satisfied, everything had gone very well and she hoped that by now Hermione would have spoken to Ron about him calling her a whore. Of course, she had lied. He never said a word to her in fact. She even doubted that he knew of her existence. However, that didn't matter, since she studied the red-head well enough to assume that he would dig his own grave. She knew that Harry would likely believe Ron, and would either not say anything or take a neutral stance, but she doubted that he would tell something to Hermione. She was very reluctant to give him additional orders using the ring, since a large amount of orders would just make a puppet out of him and that wasn't what she wanted.

Hermione became Daphne's other pet project. She wanted to use the second ring, but couldn't use it on purebloods or half-bloods. It wasn't in her best interests to start a blood feud. Harry was the last Potter without close relatives. He had no first cousins and she was safe with him. Muggle-borns were the obvious choice. Unfortunately there weren't any promising candidates other than Hermione.

Daphne didn't want a slave for fun. A slave had to offer her something. Harry could offer political influence, money and… well, he was handsome. And powerful. The boy defeated a basilisk! She began to blush, but suppressed it quickly. She couldn't afford to lose control.

Hermione on the other hand had the potential to become the most talented witch of the generation. Daphne rivaled her in a few subjects but couldn't keep up in all of them. The blonde recognized a genius and to have one in her hands was a very enticing thought. Besides Harry's friend was the kind of girl Daphne liked. She hated Astoria and her mother because they had nothing in their pretty heads besides boys, clothes and jewelry.

But Hermione wasn't as trusting and hotheaded as Harry. Unlike Harry she wouldn't accept slavery. That's why she chose another way. She knew that Hermione didn't have any female friends and wasn't the most liked person in Hogwarts. Students were either jealous of her intelligence and friendship with the Boy-Who-Lived or didn't like her know-it-all attitude and blood status. Besides it was difficult to talk to her on typical girls' subjects. What's worse, Hermione didn't have any male friends either, well, aside from Ron and Harry. Sure she talked to some students, helped a few of them, but that wasn't friendship.

A girl like Hermione would accept a new friend happily. That's why she came early to King's Cross. She knew that Hermione would be with Harry. She was always with him. Daphne hoped that they would be alone, but was still surprised to see them without the Weasleys. That was very fortunate, since she could talk to them without interference…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a few knocks on the compartment's door. She opened the door and saw her cousin Tracey Davis. Tracey was a daughter of her aunt on father's side. Both Grandfather and father were against the marriage between Isabella Greengrass and muggle-born James Davis, not because their family had something against muggle-borns, but because her children wouldn't be as influential in the magical community as they would be if Isabella chose a pureblood or half-blood. Still she chose love. Quite the stupid decision in Daphne's opinion. Daphne would never let her emotions and feelings control her. She only allowed herself to feel if that wouldn't interfere with her plans.

"Hi, Daph," Tracey said.

"Glad to see you again," Daphne nodded.

"So, what are you playing at?" her red-haired cousin asked. "Why did you need to be alone with Granger and Potter and why do you need me to be friendly with them?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. Your occlumency shields are as good as nonexistent."

"But Daph come on, tell me!" Tracey whined.

Daphne scowled and said "No. Unless you learn how to protect your mind, I won't tell you anything."

"You're evil" Tracey pouted.

"Of course I am" Daphne said coyly. "Hermione will be back soon. At least I hope she will. Please be as friendly with her as possible and call her by her first name."

"Don't know why you bother. She's a bloody know-it-all."

"She's talented, Tracey. She isn't only book-smart. Hermione has issues with confidence, but once the girl gets past her problems, she'll be on the road to greatness."

"If you say so" Tracey mumbled.

"Was I ever wrong?"

Red-haired girl sighed and shook her head. "No."

"Now say is Potter gay? Is he really in love with Malfoy?"

Daphne choked and burst out laughing unable to keep cool. That was the scene Hermione saw, when she opened the door after knocking a few times.

"May I come in?" she asked.

"Sure, come in" Tracey answered with a smile.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Tracey Davis" the other girl introduced.

"What were you laughing at?" Hermione questioned.

"Well," Daphne said calming down "There was a rumor in Hogwarts."

Hermione looked at her confused and asked, "What kind of rumor?"

"That Harry and Malfoy are gay and in love with each other. But something went wrong… according to some other rumors, Weasley has something to do with it. And that's why they're fighting. Pansy is quite jealous of Potter."

Hermione paled and uttered "N-no, he's not a gay. He hates Malfoy, actually…"

Tracey smiled and interrupted, "But the line between love and hate is so thin."

"Daphne, say something! He's not in love with Malfoy."

Daphne decided to tease, "How should I know if he isn't? He's so infatuated with him…"

"What?" exclaimed Hermione in shock, "But, but… but…"

"Merlin, Hermione, relax a bit," Daphne said shaking her head "I'm just teasing." She turned to Tracey and told her "In answer to your question Tracey, no, he isn't a gay."

"How do you know that?" Davis asked in an upset tone.

"Doesn't she know that you and Harry…?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

Tracey's eyes widened and she asked her cousin "You and Harry, what?"

Daphne sighed. How did it come to that? "Hermione, I would like you to keep things like this to yourself. We're trying to keep it a secret."

"Sorry" the bushy-haired witch said looking at floor.

"Don't worry about it too much," the blonde reassured her. "Tracey is my cousin and I would tell her either way." She turned to Tracey and continued "We're dating. Harry and I."

Tracey gaped unable to say a word for almost ten seconds and then uttered "Well that's unexpected."

Their conversation was interrupted by a few knocks. The door opened and they saw two red-heads grinning madly. Daphne recognized Weasley twins but wasn't sure she was happy to see them. They pranked Slytherins way too much.

"Fred, George?" Hermione asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to see you of course," the one of them said. "Quite a sight, a lion in a pit of snakes. Don't be insulted girls, just a silly metaphor."

"And to inform the beautiful blonde that certain boy with raven hair…"

"… and a scar on his forehead has very… very…"

"…very perverted thoughts on his mind regarding you."

"Oh get out of here," Hermione roared blushing.

The Weasleys closed the door and left laughing all the way. Daphne stayed silent, but wondered if the twins came to say that to her or to see if Hermione was alright in the 'pit of snakes'. No, they came to warn Daphne that they're watching out for Hermione. It would be a mistake to not watch them carefully. They were dangerous despite their reputation as carefree pranksters.

"See?" Hermione said to Tracey. "He isn't interested in Malfoy."

"I see!" Tracey exclaimed in excitement "It's a one-sided love! Malfoy is in love with Potter, but the Boy-Who-Lived doesn't answer his feelings! That makes sense!"

"That doesn't make sense at all!" Hermione argued.

"You're impossible, Tracey" Daphne sighed and said to Hermione, "She likes all those stories. Don't pay attention."

"Is this common in the magical world?" Hermione asked. "I mean homosexuality?"

"No," Daphne answered and shook her head, "It's officially frowned upon. Just like interspecies relationships. But as long as you don't try to marry or go to the Diagon Alley and yell out that you're gay and want everyone to be gay as well, there are no consequences."

"Interspecies relationships?"

"Well," Daphne said with distaste and couldn't help but frown, "We can have children with many magical beings and beasts like goblins, house-elves, vampires, veela, giants, trolls and many others."

Hermione looked at her for a moment and asked, "You don't like it, do you?"

"While veela and vampires are okay, it's disgusting when you imagine a troll or a giant with a human girl. I don't even want to know how that works."

Hermione shivered and nodded "Have to agree there." She sighed.

"Whoa, why did you have to say that," Tracey said with disgust "I'll have nightmares from now on because of you, Daph."

"I'm glad" Daphne said grinning and asked Hermione "Will you do four electives this year again?"

"No, I'll drop muggle studies" she answered.

Tracey smiled and said, "A good decision. Don't understand why a muggle-born would want to do the Muggle Studies. The teacher doesn't know a bit about muggles. My father can tell me more about them in a single evening."

"Your father's a muggle?" Hermione asked surprised.

"No, he's muggle-born. Why're you surprised?"

Hermione blushed. "I assumed that there were only purebloods in Slytherin."

Daphne shook her head and told her, "There are more half-bloods in Slytherin than purebloods. Our year is more of an exception with only three half-bloods."

"Are you pureblood?" Hermione asked Daphne.

"You may call me that, but all four of my great grandparents from mother's side were muggle-borns. She's half-blood. The Malfoy scion isn't all that 'pure' himself either, because we share two muggle-born great grandparents, not that Malfoys will ever acknowledge it."

"You're cousins?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Merlin, Hermione," Tracey said tiredly, "Everyone in magical world is related. I, Daphne and Malfoy are Potter's second cousins once removed. The Weasleys are his third cousins. It's one big family with a lot squabbles."

Hermione raised an eyebrow asking, "But you're dating."

"We're distant enough" Daphne brushed her off.

"The magical world is crazy," Hermione mumbled.

"Welcome to the Family" Daphne said and laughed.


	6. Chapter 6: Sorting ceremony

**A/N:** Interesting conclusion from stats: only a half of all visitors care to read the story past the first chapter. Those who read it are almost loyal for now :D.

It starts with the Hogwarts Express again. Had to take some parts from the books

**B/N:** Hello once again from ghostalker15! I'm going to try not to make this a common occurrence, but I just want to let it be known that if anyone else is looking for a beta-reader that they should look at my beta-profile first to see if you fit my preferences and I yours. Currently with this story I'm not bogged down too much as the chapters are relatively short and well written, though they come out more frequently than other stories. Remember that this is a fanfic, and that Zorah has worked hard on it. Neither of us are being paid at all for doing this, and you aren't paying any money either for reading this, so please, no trolling or flaming.

Floor is yours, Zorah ^^

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**Author P.S. **If there are some mistakes, it's probably my fault, because I changed the chapter after it was betaed. I hope I didn't ruin it :D

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**Chapter 6: Sorting ceremony.**

Thirty minutes before the train would stop at Hogsmeade station, Harry remembered that his luggage was in Daphne's compartment and headed back. He knocked on the compartment's door and opened it, finding two hysterically laughing witches: Hermione and Daphne. The third unfamiliar one was beaming with excitement and grinning madly. He knew that the red-haired girl was in Slytherin, but he hadn't talked to her before. Harry remembered the name Daphne had mentioned.

"Tracey Davis, right?" Harry said.

"O-o-oh! _Right _on time!" the red-head exclaimed.

"What's so funny?" he asked. "And right on time for what?"

"To confirm the new rumour, of course!" the red-head continued, while both Hermione and Daphne continued to laugh, tears forming on their eyes. "So, say, is it true that you were trying to come together with Malfoy a few hours ago?"

"What?" Harry yelled.

"Don't bother denying it, you were seen lying on top of him trying to KISS!" she squeaked. "But he was too shy to accept, wasn't he? Some say that he was really put out after you left, because he missed the opportunity."

"What the hell are you talking about? I just remember somehow bumping into him, I was too distracted."

"O-OH!" she roared, "Bumping? So hot!"

"What?" said Harry again unable to follow her words.

Before he could continue, she looked at him accusingly and said, "But you should be faithful to my favourite cousin, don't know why she's laughing her ass off." She looked at Daphne for a moment, stood up and went for the door, but before leaving she whispered, "If you cheat on her again, I'll castrate you." Then she said loud, "See you later, girls." With that she left, leaving pale boy standing bewildered by everything that was said.

"What the bloody hell was that?" he managed to ask entering the compartment and closing the door.

"That was Tracey," Hermione said, wiping out tears.

"Don't think badly of her. She is a genius at Potions and Herbology, but very childish at the same time. Tracey is crazy on all these rumours, but she can be dead serious," Daphne explained trying to keep herself from smiling.

"All these rumours?" Harry asked.

Daphne shook her head and said "Ignore it, it doesn't matter. I assume you're here for your school robes?"

"Yeah," he nodded and opened his trunk to get robes.

"Did you know that Malfoy is your second cousin once removed?" Hermione asked.

Harry was closing the trunk when he heard this and pinched his fingers. "Dragon dung! He's my what?"

"Cousin. His mother is your second cousin," Hermione explained.

"I and his mother had the same great grandparents?" he asked.

"Yes, Cygnus Black and his wife, if I'm not mistaken," Daphne said glaring at Hermione.

The bushy-haired witch continued, however, "And Daphne is your second cousin once removed as well."

His eyes widened and she asked Daphne, "You're my cousin?" He was enslaved by his own cousin? Well, nothing new here. He sighed.

Daphne wasn't happy with the girl, but she knew why Hermione said it. The bushy-haired witch didn't like the fact that cousins were seeing each other. Hermione was just being Hermione. Daphne sighed, surprisingly simultaneously with Harry and answered, "Yes. I hate genealogy, but my father insisted that I learned the family tree. Have to agree, that it's very helpful. Your great grandparents were Harold Potter and Callisto Bones. They had a son and a daughter. The son was Charlus Potter, your grandfather who married Dorea Black and had a son - James Potter, your father. Charlus' sister Helene married Gregory Longbottom, my great grandfather. They had a son and a daughter: Arthur Longbottom and Enid Longbottom. "

"Wait, Longbottom?" interrupted Hermione.

"Yes, I know what you mean. I'm Neville's second cousin. Arthur married Augusta and they had a son, Frank Longbottom, who is Neville's father. Anyway, Enid Longbottom married Lucius Greengrass and they had two children: Tracey's mother Stylbe Davis nee Greengrass and my father Pereus Greengrass, while my mother Creusa is a first cousin of Lucius Malfoy. Consequently, I'm Draco Malfoy's second cousin."

Harry frowned, mostly because he failed to remember everything. "That's confusing. Are there students in Hogwarts I'm not related to?" Harry asked.

Daphne smiled and answered, "Well, you aren't related to Hermione."

"So, are you alright with dating a cousin?" Hermione asked.

He wanted to say that he didn't date her but stopped himself. If Daphne didn't deny it, then he had to assume that it was a legend to cover his slavery. "We're quite distant," he said instead.

"See?" Daphne said. "We're distant enough."

Soon the train arrived to the Hogsmeade station and they went to carriages. Harry decided to stay with Daphne and Hermione, because it disturbed him how fast Hermione and Daphne were becoming close friends. He was sure that Daphne had some underlying reason for befriending her, but at the same time he didn't want to destroy the forming friendship. Hermione deserved good friends. She seemed to be very happy in Daphne's company and he would hate himself for upsetting Hermione.

Tracey joined them in their carriage before they could take off. He didn't know what to think of the red-haired girl. One moment she was like a child, the other moment she could be a scary monster. Harry decided to take the farthest place from her in the carriage.

"So, Potter, is that true that you killed Quirell because he refused to give you an Outstanding in DADA?" Tracey asked.

"What?" This girl was going to be the end of him. "I didn't kill him... he just... died," answered Harry and shook his head. That sounded all wrong.

"Aha," she muttered thoughtfully.

"He was possessed by Voldemort" Harry explained.

"But he's dead," Davis argued.

"He's not," Harry replied, "Merlin, it's difficult to explain."

"What does that mean?" Daphne said worriedly. That was very important piece of information. Her family assumed that Voldemort died that night. If he didn't, things would get ugly.

"Well, I faced him two times... three times if you count the day I received the scar," Harry explained. "The second time was in my first year. He was, well, sticking out of the back of Quirell's head. Quirell was hiding him with his turban."

"That's gross," grimaced Tracey. "You're as bad as Daphne. Another horrible nightmare..." she whined.

Harry shrugged and said "You asked for it."

"You're mean," she said, then asked excitedly, "Is it true that Ginny Weasley was trying to kill Hermione in the second year because she was jealous?"

Harry looked at her strangely and questioned, "Where are these rumours come from? She didn't try to kill anyone."

Tracey wanted to ask more questions but fortunately for Harry they had to get out of the carriages and his mood went up, but almost immediately went down again, when a Peeve's water bomb hit his head the moment he got out. Daphne laughed at that, while Professor McGonagall tried to reason with the poltergeist.

"You look like you've just got out of the lake," she said still laughing.

"Very funny," he hissed shivering with cold.

"Well, move along, then!" said Professor McGonagall at last. "Into the Great Hall, come on!"

"We'll see you later, Harry, Hermione," said Daphne and joined other Slytherins with Tracey, while Harry and Hermione entered the Great Hall with other Gryffindors.

They went to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Ron. Obviously the red-head wasn't happy with Harry and Hermione joining Slytherins in compartment and then in the carriage. The whole situation was getting very difficult and it was only the first day at Hogwarts! Still angry at Ron, Hermione let Harry sit between the two.

"Hiya, Harry!" he heard the voice of Colin Creevey, before he could say something to Ron.

"Hello" Harry nodded, looking at the boy who was sitting across the table.

"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! His name's Dennis!" Colin was clearly excited.

"Good for you, I guess" said Harry.

"He's really excited! I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?"

"Brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?" he said looking at the Weasleys.

"Oh no, not necessarily" said Hermione. "Parvati Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw and they're identical. You'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?"

He glanced at the staff table and was surprised, because he couldn't find a new DADA teacher. He noted that, and smiled at Hermione, who looked worried that Dumbledore hadn't hired a teacher. He was quite sure that someone would teach them. Maybe the teacher was just late or some teacher would be teaching two subjects. Hopefully Snape hadn't got his hands on DADA, otherwise his favorite subject would become the least favorite one.

Soon the doors of the Great Hall opened and McGonagall led the first years into the Hall. Only few were calm and relaxed, but annoyed because they'd got soaked; the majority looked either excited or scared. Some were glancing at the ceiling in awe, others were too nervous to notice anything around them. He wondered if he was like them when he had entered the Hall for the first time. He was surprised when the hat sang a new song, but decided to not comment on it, because neither Hermione nor Ron looked to be inclined to talk to each other. There was too much tension in the air for his liking.

That was the first time he could watch the Sorting ceremony from the Gryffindor table. Neither in second nor in third year he wasn't in the Great Hall at the time of the sorting. However, it wasn't all that exciting and he got bored soon. Of course, he couldn't miss that Dennis Creevey had joined Gryffindor, because of his brother's excitement. To Colin's disappointment, Harry got distracted the next moment. It was the first year girl, who got his entire attention.

"Greengrass, Astoria!" called Professor McGonagall.

'She has a sister?' he thought and glanced at Slytherin table. Daphne was looking at Astoria without any visible interest. The sister, unlike Daphne had dark-brown hair, but shared other features. The girl sat on the stool, and the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" Harry glanced at Daphne and saw her looking stunned that her sister had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Daphne was sure that her sister would be sorted into Hufflepuff or Slytherin," Hermione said.

"You knew about her?" he asked Hermione

"You didn't?" Hermione questioned wide-eyed.

"She never mentioned that she had a sister," Harry said shaking his head.

"Well," Hermione nodded, "Astoria stayed in the compartment with us for twenty minutes. She's a very sweet and kind girl."

"At least she isn't a snake like her sister," muttered Ron earning an angry glare from Hermione.

"Ron…" Harry said, irritated. He was worried that his constant insults would cost Ron Hermione's friendship. And, well, Harry was slowly getting annoyed as well.

Ron went silent and Harry was able to watch the ceremony until the last student was sorted into Hufflepuff. Soon after Dumbledore said "Tuck in", they began to eat and Harry was quite relieved, because he was very hungry. He glanced at Ron and shook his head: not as hungry as the red-head, but still… Everything would have been fine if Nearly Headless Nick hadn't mentioned house-elves, when he started to tell them about Peeves. Of course the word 'elf' got Hermione's attention and when she learned that meals at Hogwarts were cooked by elves that weren't paid, she refused to take another bite at her meal.

"Slave labor," she said, "That's what made this dinner. Slave labor."

"You know," Harry said thinking of his own situation, "Don't jump to conclusions if you don't know all the facts. You only know about two elves. If they were mistreated, it doesn't mean that all of them are mistreated. Besides, if you refuse to eat, you may simply insult them while remaining hungry. That doesn't help their cause at all. Ask Daphne first, she's from a very old and wealthy pureblood family and I'm sure she knows a lot about house-elves."

Hermione blushed. "Well, I guess, you're right, Harry," she said and began to eat again.


	7. Chapter 7: Revelations

**A/N: **Thanks to knightmare1986 for reminding me about the Cloak and the Map. I wanted him to try avoiding her, but couldn't decide how he would do it, when I received your review and found a way :D.

The chapter is a bit longer than usual. And there is something** very** important about the chapter.

Betaed by yours truly, ghostalker15

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**Chapter 7: Revelations**

Daphne was astonished. She looked at her sister going to the Ravenclaw table and couldn't believe her eyes and ears. She was sure that Astoria would go to Slytherin, because Daphne knew that her sister still loved her for some reason. Most students don't know it, but the Hat respects students' wishes. It would place you where you wanted to be, not necessarily where you belonged. Daphne thought that even if Astoria had failed to persuade the Hat to put her into Slytherin, she would at least be Hufflepuff material, because she was too stupid for Ravenclaw, too much of a coward for Gryffindor and her lack of ambition closed every door to Slytherin. But here she was, sitting at Ravenclaw table and talking to the other students from her house. How could she have misjudged her own sister like this?

"Well, you're wrong for the first time," Tracey noted looking at her.

"I can't believe she got into Ravenclaw," Daphne muttered.

"Surprises happen." Tracey shrugged and continued to watch the sorting ceremony.

Yes, surprises could happen, but she felt horrible. She hated having no control over a situation and right now that had happened. She had to reassess her sister. Sure it was nothing serious, but if she'd made a similar mistake with Hermione or Harry it could prove to be disastrous.

Besides she had to talk to Harry about Voldemort. She wanted to get everything out of him and that was difficult in the company of Hermione and Tracey. However, there was no way to talk to him until tomorrow. She was very worried that the dark wizard was alive. Sure her family didn't have to worry, because Voldemort would normally never risk alienating the Greengrass family, but with the Boy-Who-Lived at her side he might be stupid enough to try something. She had to protect her family.

Daphne glanced at Hermione and sighed. At least one thing was going well. The bushy-haired girl trusted and admired her already. Daphne smiled at the sight of Hermione glaring at Ron. It was working, but the Greengrass heiress knew that she had to be very careful. She couldn't rush it; she had to take it slow. Very slow, otherwise Hermione would suspect something. The witch couldn't be underestimated; she was a very intelligent girl. Daphne decided to take it one step at a time and wait for the right moment.

She was quite surprised again when the new DADA teacher was announced. She hoped for a good teacher, but after Quirrell and Lockhart it was difficult to believe, that Dumbledore would get two adequate teachers one after another. The first one knew much about Dark Arts – the fact isn't that surprising considering that he was possessed by Voldemort– but he failed to explain anything. The second one was just horrible. She didn't even want to think about that fraud. She took a deep breath and sighed trying to calm down. The only good teacher was the werewolf, but sadly he had to quit. Unfortunately no one could do anything about the lack of a reliable DADA professor as long as Dumbledore refused to get curse-breakers to lift the curse on the position.

She had heard about Moody and looked forward to the lessons with him. He was a good auror that had many useful lessons to pass on that wouldn't be a waste of her time like some of the other teachers' lessons had been. Sometimes she wondered if it would have been better to go to one of the other schools. History, Divination, Potions, DADA were all taught horribly here. The only teachers she respected were Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. Both of them knew their subjects very well and loved teaching. One would think every Slytherin loved Snape, but that was a mistake; Daphne thought he was a horrible teacher. Sure he knew the subject well, but the man hated teaching. Why Dumbledore thought that it was a good idea to have him as a professor was beyond her understanding. However, she had to attend Hogwarts. The school had the best reputation and would enable her to get information about wizards and witches of her generation.

"Stop brooding about your sister, Daph," Tracey said while Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament. "Mistakes happen."

"Makes me wonder about other things," the blonde said.

"Well, that's not a bad thing. To think things over one more time, I mean. Besides, I told you that Astoria is a witty girl. Sometimes I have to be right too," she said with a grin.

"Right," Daphne answered. "But I still hate her. They both think that their love can make me happy. Stupid fools." She went silent but continued to curse inwardly. '_Why can't she and mother see that all their attempts make things worse? I can't stand being around them. "Be happy while you can Daphne", "Find yourself a boyfriend Daphne", "Experience young love before it's too late Daphne". I hate you!'_

"Well," Tracey shrugged and turned to the girl that was sitting next to her "Pansy, are you jealous that Potter and your precious boyfriend did things earlier on the Hogwarts Express?"

Daphne couldn't help but facepalm and laugh. Tracey would never change. She could always lift her mood up in a second.

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The next morning Harry, Hermione and Ron went to the Great Hall for a breakfast. Ron took his advice to heart and apologized to Hermione. She was still cold to him, but it was much better than the other day. It was difficult to get Ron out of the bed early enough to have breakfast before Daphne would get to the Great Hall. Harry was quite happy, because he realized that if he didn't go near Daphne, she wouldn't be able to give him orders, and he would be able to claim that they just missed each other in the big castle of Hogwarts. He had all the instruments to avoid her, the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak. The problem was explaining that to Hermione who thought they were dating. He wasn't even sure why he was trying to avoid her like that; Daphne wasn't really abusing her powers. He even liked some moments of his new status, but he was also enjoying his newly discovered freedom.

However as soon as he neared the Great Hall he saw her leaving the Slytherin Dungeon and heading directly to the Great Hall. He cursed inwardly and looked at Hermione and Ron.

"I'll catch up, have to get to toilet," he said.

"But you was there just a few minutes ago," Ron protested.

"Have to go again."

They nodded and moved to the Hall, while Harry got to the secluded corner, looked around making sure that he was alone, and slipped on the Cloak. He was still looking at the Marauder's Map, when Daphne stepped into the Great Hall. The next moment he was very surprised, because Daphne left the Hall and moved directly towards him. Harry panicked and decided to get to the next floor. When he got there, he took out the Map again and blanched when he saw Daphne following him. How did she know where he was? Did she have her own version of the Marauder's Map or was that one of the Ring's abilities? He stepped into one of the unused classrooms and closed the door.

Daphne ambled around the corner and went to the door of the classroom he was hiding in. Harry breathed out a sigh of defeat and looked at the door. Daphne opened it, went in and stopped for a moment looking around. He had hoped that she wouldn't notice him because of the Cloak, but a second later she closed the door and moved directly to him. Then she reached out her hand and took the Cloak off of him.

A few moments they looked at each other and didn't say anything. Then she shook her head. "Don't try to avoid me, Harry. That's not possible," she said in amused tone.

"But how? Does the ring make it possible?" he asked delighted that she wasn't angry. In reality she was hurt because he decided to run from her like that. The day before she was kind to him, but what did he do today to repay it? He tried to avoid her. She knew, of course, why he did it, but that didn't make it easier to forgive. Daphne felt betrayed.

"Yes," she nodded. "We have to talk and if you would stay in the Great Hall we wouldn't be hungry."

"Sorry, Mistress. I've just…"

"…had an idea how to be free of me. Right?" she finished for him and snorted. "You won't be free of me. The rings are for life on our fingers… This item of yours is great though. I never saw an Invisibility Cloak of this quality before," she said examining the Cloak. "I'll be taking it."

"But… it was…"

"…your father's?" she finished for him again and sat down on the teacher's table. "You have to get used that you have nothing yours anymore. You're mine and everything yours is now mine. Even your wand."

He was upset by her words, but still muttered, "I understand, Mistress."

"Good. Now we have to talk about Voldemort. My family thought he died thirteen years ago, but apparently he didn't. Tell me everything you know."

"But we don't have much time until…"

"I don't care," she interrupted him. "Voldemort is more important than some lessons. Leave it to me."

He sighed and began to tell her what happened in the first year. She looked thoughtful and listened very careful. A few times she interrupted him to ask questions.

"He couldn't touch you because your mother's love protected you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," he replied.

She snorted and uttered, "What a foolish explanation. Dozens mothers died like yours and their children didn't receive any protection. Do you really believe everything Dumbledore tells you? He's either senile or intentionally misleading you. However, your protection reminds me of blood-rituals that were used in our family hundreds of years ago. Very dark magic that involves sacrifice. It has to be a family member who shares your blood and willingly sacrifices himself or herself before the eyes of the one who receives the protection. The sacrifice had to be forcibly killed by someone who doesn't want to kill the sacrifice in order for the ritual to be a success. Your parents probably performed the ritual at some point before they were killed. Sure, they feared that niether of you would live through encounter with Voldemort, and sure, they wanted to ensure that you, at least, would live. But just imagine that, finishing a ritual where either of your parents had to die at the hand of the other. It's horrible when you think about it."

"They were going to kill each other?" he asked horrified.

"No, only one would have to kill the other to give you protection. Am I right that your mother was near you when she died?" she asked and received a nod "Then they were lucky that Voldemort came soon after the ritual. It had to be within a week. Voldemort finished it by killing your mother in front of you. For some crazy reason the dark maniac didn't want to kill her at that moment, but was forced to somehow and that's why the ritual worked..."

"That makes no sense. Why would he be unwilling to kill her?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"How should I know? Maybe he liked your mother or one of his men liked her. Don't ask stupid questions and don't interrupt me." She glared at him and continued, "Anyway, the longer you wait with the sacrifice the weaker the protection is. Merlin, it's a miracle that you have it at all."

Did Dumbledore know all of that and decided to not tell him? He asked, "How do you know so much about the ritual?"

"I had to learn my family's history. Earlier in the seventeenth century it was common for our family to perform various rituals. My father insists that I learn the family rituals in case I needed to perform them myself. Makes me wonder how your parents knew about our family's secret that goes from our head to our heir. Blacks are the only other family that knew about it, but your father wasn't an heir of the House of Blacks. Did Potters have knowledge of it too?" Daphne wondered and said using the ring, "Don't talk to anyone about the ritual aside from me without my permission."

"Well, I wasn't going to tell anybody," he said with a frown.

She shrugged and said, "I had to be sure, but enough of that, tell me about the second year."

He nodded and continued his story. Mention of the former Malfoy's elf got her attention but she didn't say anything. Daphne knew about the basilisk and involvement of Ginny Weasley. But she had no idea how the girl got possessed in the first place. Furthermore it was already the second possession.

"That doesn't make any sense," she said when he explained the diary. "Memories can't resurrect their owners. One of the rules of magic states that there is no life without a soul; Quirrell's and Weasley's possessions are completely different. Quirrell could be possessed by a wraith-form of Voldemort. It's unlikely, but that maniac could find means to do so. However, Weasley was possessed by his diary and a possession needs a soul. So the wraith bonded himself to the diary, right?" she stopped abruptly and her eyes widened. "No, that's stupid. You destroyed the diary, didn't you?"

"Yes," he answered confused.

"But you're sure that he's still alive?"

"Well… yeah. I think so. Besides, I had a dream earlier this summer. I'm not sure what it was about, but he was there. It wasn't a normal dream. To vivid… When I woke up, my scar was hurting. And it's hurting when he's near. That was the case with Quirrell."

"Your scar, you say?" she asked thoughtfully looking at his forehead. Then she blanched and stepped back.

He didn't know what caused that, but she looked like she was trying to not cry. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Harry," she said weakly, avoiding looking into his eyes. "Take your Cloak back, I don't want it anymore. Don't tell anybody about your dream, the diary or our conversation. I'll explain our absence to teachers. Don't worry about it." With that she rushed out of the room leaving a bewildered boy alone in the classroom.


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets and Elves

**A/N: **I won't change anything regardless of reviews. I have entire plot in my head and have already written the very last chapter and the epilogue.

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**B/N:** If anybody's wondering about why it's been such a long time (in Zorah's terms) since an update, that would be my fault. Real life caught up to me and when that happens well, a lot of things get in the way of my beta-ing this and the following chapter. Anyways, since it's long overdue, enjoy!

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**Chapter 8: Secrets and Elves.**

Tracey was already worried because Daphne and Potter didn't appear for the lessons and Tracey didn't see either of them all day. She hoped to find her friend in the common room but the moment she entered, she understood that something was wrong. Slytherin Dungeon was a very silent place unlike the dormitories of other Houses, but it was unusually quiet and she saw instantly why. There was devastation. Not a single piece of furniture was whole. Sure it could be repaired with magic in a few minutes, but it was hard to imagine what could have caused all the carnage. Then she noticed where the other students were staring and gasped.

It was Daphne, standing before a window, magic emanating from her lifting the multitude of objects around her into the air. Her normally perfect, but now extremely messy, hair was defying gravity and Tracey couldn't help but see some similarities to a banshee. Thankfully they were in the House of Slytherin. Things like this always stayed inside the Slytherin Dungeons, otherwise there would be very nasty rumors to put down. It was the first time Daphne lost control like this. She was a very powerful witch, like most Greengrasses before her, but she had never shown it. What could have caused her to lose control? Did Potter do something? Oh she was going to kill the bastard if it was his fault.

Tracey approached her, while other students looked at her like she was insane; who in their right mind goes near an unstable witch when she's making things fly with accidental magic, driven to the limits by emotions? Madmen, because it could prove to be fatal. But that was Daphne, she wouldn't hurt her favorite cousin, would she? Trace moved to her warily and whispered, "Daph, it's me, Tracey."

Daphne turned around, her face full of scorn and anger, but as soon as she saw the red-head she visibly relaxed. Still, her eyes remained cold and lifeless. What could possibly have gone wrong? She seemed to be so happy yesterday for the first time in her life. She had smiled so much and her eyes had been so lively and warm. Tracey decided to not waste time and dragged her into the bedroom locking the door and casting privacy charms. They both sat down on Tracey's bed.

"What happened, Daph? Is it Potter? Did he do something to you?" she asked.

"It is Potter," Daphne choked.

"I'll kill him!" Tracey roared jumping from the bed.

"No," Daphne shook her head. "He did nothing wrong. I messed up."

"How? What's wrong?" Tracey questioned.

"I thought that I found a solution to my problem," she explained.

"You mean Potter?" Tracey asked confused, "Ah… I understand… Well, he's handsome… and powerful… I mean…" She paused and shook her head, "No, I don't understand, he's the bloody Boy-Who-Lived, heir of the Potter's family. There is no way…"

"I'm sure he would agree in the end," Daphne continued. "I ensured it. Practically he has already accepted it."

"He did? But that's great! I mean, there will be consequences, but still…"

"He's just like me. A person who doesn't have a choice" she said. "But he has it even worse. He is destined to die."

"What? Daphne, that doesn't make any sense… Does he have some terminal illness?"

"Remember when he said that Voldemort is alive?" Daphne asked her.

"Yeah."

"The only way to kill Voldemort is to kill Harry. He has Voldemort's… no, a piece of Voldemort's soul inside of his scar…"

"How do you know that?"

"You know that my father teaches me things like this. I know for sure that Voldemort has split his soul. The wizard is insane enough to do that. That piece of the soul in Harry's scar grows stronger when Voldemort is near, reacts to his presense and the scar hurts. As long as Harry is alive, Voldemort won't die. If Voldemort doesn't die, he will be able to possess Harry sooner or later. There is no way out."

They stayed silent for a few minutes. "Is that all?" Tracey asked coldly.

"What? "

"Daphne, you're an idiot!" Tracey yelled, giving her a slap in the face. "You're making a big fuss over nothing. You scared me! I thought that something went horribly wrong."

"But…"

"Not yet! You have time. Why are you giving up? That's not like you at all! If he has the bloody wanker's soul in the damned scar, take it out. If no one knows the way to do it, then find a way yourself! If there are problems, solve them; don't run away, for bloody Merlin's sake or I'll slap you again! That's what you always did; you faced your problems and didn't run away from them!"

Daphne looked shocked at her cousin. Tracey had always been a carefree person so to get this reaction out of her was rare. To think that she would slap her… The shock helped Daphne snap out of her depression and collect herself. She took a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes. '_If father finds out that I lost control this badly, he'll be pissed_' she thought. '_I can't afford that._' Tracey was right. If there is no way out, you find a way further in. That was the Greengrass way.

"Thank you, Tracey," she said. "I had a moment of weakness… my father would have killed me for it."

Tracey smiled and hugged her. "Everyone has those moments."

"I'll save Harry and then he'll be mine."

"I'm glad." Then she broke the embrace and sighed. "I hate to tell you that, but I have to take a memory potion. But before that, answer one question, please. Did you enslave him?"

"Yes," Daphne said with a blush. "I tricked him into it."

"How?"

"The Rings. They worked. Made him believe he was kidnapped by Death Eaters."

"That easy?" Tracey asked surprised.

"Yes, I didn't believe it either."

Tracey smiled and said, "Well, I wish you luck, Daphne."

"Thank you," the blonde answered her.

"I guess there is no reason to wait longer," the read-head said with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, Tracey," Daphne said as she took a small phial from her trunk.

"Don't worry about it. The information you shared is too dangerous for my unprotected mind. I'm sorry I can't be there for you yet" Tracey said.

"Don't be sorry. You're always there for me" Daphne argued looking at Tracey, who emptied the phial into her mouth. Daphne took her wand and sent a spell at her cousin.

The next moment Tracey shook her head and looked confusedly at Daphne asking, "Why are you crying, Daph?"

"It's nothing, Tracey," Daphne said giving her a forced smile. Sometimes she wondered how Tracey could ignore a memory loss like this. Of course, Tracey understood that she drank a potion a few moments ago, but she didn't show it. '_I don't deserve a friend like you,_' Daphne thought.

"Ah, don't say that you had so much fun with your boyfriend that you forgot about classes!"

"Ugh… You've got me, Tracey," she said and gave a fake laugh and lie down on her bed.

Daphne thought back to Harry. She would find a way at any cost. She felt bad that she tried to take his Cloak. Sure she wanted to punish him for avoiding her, but after she learned about the scar, she couldn't do that to him. Still, the Cloak was very interesting and she would at least study it. On the other hand she had and wanted to teach him that avoiding her won't do any good to him. She hoped that he wouldn't like the punishment too much. Well, there were advantages if he did. That could be interesting. She giggled at the thought of Harry liking the punishment. A moment later, she frowned - her stomach was being rebellious. She had to eat something.

"Hey, let's get to the Great Hall," Daphne suggested.

"Oh, is it already that late?" Tracey said.

"Yes, it is," Daphne answered.

When they returned to the common room, furniture was already repaired and Daphne sighed with relief that she didn't have to explain to Tracey what had happened here. Soon they reached the Great Hall. A few Slytherins eyed Daphne warily but remained silent. They sat down at the Slytherin table and began to eat. Daphne looked around and noticed Harry talking to Hermione and Ron. She smirked seeing that Harry was reprimanded by Hermione, possibly because he missed classes. Fortunately she was able to write notices to teachers before she had lost her cool. She was Greengrass heiress and as such had ways to avoid detentions and points deductions.

At some point Hermione glanced to the Slytherin Table and smiled at Daphne. She began to stand up, but the blonde shook her head and stood up herself. Then she moved to Gryffindor table while her cousin stayed engrossed in a discussion about new rumors with other Slytherins. It was a bad idea for Hermione to come up to the Slytherin table. But Daphne's appearance at the Gryffindor table wasn't smooth either. Ron was sending her glares and most Gryffindors weren't any better. The animosity between two Houses was both amusing and annoying.

Daphne sat down next to Hermione and said, "Hi, Hermione. How are you today?"

"I'm fine," Hermione answered with a smile. Then she frowned and asked, "Why did you and Harry skipped classes today? He refuses to tell me." The bushy-haired witch pouted.

"It's rather… personal, Hermione," Daphne replied causing Hermione to blush.

"I… well…" Hermione muttered, "But you… shouldn't skip classes like this."

"We'll try to not make it common occurrence," she said kindly. "But we had a reason."

"Oh, that's alright then," Hermione nodded.

"How is that fair, Hermione? I told you the same thing and you continued to tell me how wrong I was," Harry complained.

"You aren't Daphne, Harry," she said thoughtfully and turned to the blonde again, "There is something I wanted to ask. Would you mind?"

"You may ask, of course," Daphne replied.

"What do you know about House-elves?"

"Well," Daphne answered surprised by the question. "I know much of them, we have a few in our manor."

"You do?" Hermione asked almost accusingly.

"Yes," the blonde answered confused, "Why wouldn't we?"

"Do you pay them?"

"Pay?" Daphne asked dumbfolded, "Why would we do such a thing to them?"

"It's a slave labor then," she huffed.

Daphne went silent for a few seconds looking rather strange at the bushy-haired witch. "What do you mean by slave labor? That doesn't make any sense… Explain, because I'm, honestly, lost."

"Well, if they don't get paid and must work, then they're slaves…"

That sounded so ridiculous to Daphne that she could hardly understand what Hermione meant by that. "Hermione, before you go any further with accusations… what do you know about various beings and beasts aside from humans?"

"I read…"

"No, not what you read but what you know," Daphne interrupted her. "You've been living in the magical world for three years now, but it seems you failed to understand the most important thing about other sentient beings."

"The most important thing?"

"Not all sentient beings share the same ideals, morals and values as humans," Daphne answered. "Let's look at a very simple example. You go to goblins and buy a weapon crafted by some goblin. You use it and then decide to give it to Harry as a gift for his birthday, would you do that?"

"Why not?" Hermione asked confused.

"Because you would offend the maker of the weapon and the goblins. That would be no better than 'theft' in their eyes."

"But why? I paid for it."

"No, you rented it for yourself," the blonde answered. "The maker is the only true owner of the goblin made item."

"But that's wrong."

Daphne couldn't help but scowl. "No, Hermione. There is nothing wrong here. Are you so arrogant as to think that humans know better than other beings? Do you consider them stupid, less intelligent beings? Are you as bigoted as Malfoy there at the Slytherin table?"

Hermione blushed and looked down with an almost tearful expression on her face. "I… didn't think about it from that perspective."

"No, but you should have" Daphne said. "I know that some muggles believe in aliens. Would you expect of an alien to believe in the Christian God or respect the Queen? Would you expect them to have money and accept pounds because you think it's right?"

"But elves are different, they work…"

"They aren't different. They have their own values. They don't believe that you have to work for money. Money is an alien idea to them."

"But…"

"No buts. I would say that they're better than most of us, Hermione. Why do we need money? We use it as a reward that forces you to work, because we're too lazy to do anything otherwise. But they don't need any reason to work. They love it. They don't know the word lazy, because they can't be lazy. That's what they are and you have to accept them for what they are. Otherwise you wouldn't be any better than pureblood supremacists."

"But what if they're mistreated like Dobby or Winky!"

"I have no idea who Dobby and Winky are, but it happens. Perhaps there is some way to pass a few laws in the Wizengamot to better protect them; only an idiot would mistreat an elf though. You would lose the elf's loyalty and then no matter how hard you think before giving him or her orders, the elf would find a loophole. It's almost the same thing as magical oath," she said and glanced at Harry for a second. "Oaths are extremely unreliable, because you can always find a loophole. If you lose the elf's loyalty he can betray you and that would cost you a great deal in the end. I can imagine what would happen if we'd lost a single elf's loyalty. He would be able to spill so many family secrets that it would ruin us. On the other hand, if you treat them well, they will be loyal and that gives you many advantages. You don't have to clean anything, you don't have to worry about protection of the manor, you don't have to cook and go to shops yourself. They are the most reliable helpers in the magical world."

Daphne looked around and noticed that a large amount of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were listening to her. She wasn't used to large audiences, but she suppressed a blush and turned to Hermione again. The girl was lost in her thoughts.

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**Author's Note 2**: The next chapter is ready and contains quite perverted things. I'll post it as soon as it beta-ed :D

P.S. Thank you for helpful reviews. I can't reply to everyone, but I try.


	9. Chapter 9: Hidden Desires

_**A/N: **__  
_

_This chapter was very difficult to write, since I couldn't decide what P.O.V. I should take for each scene._

_**Have to warn you, that some of you may find some of things... strange, but I warned you earlier that it's a femdom story. **__**It's not the main theme of the story though.**_

_**I tried to describe Daphne's emotions during that scene with very specific details, most of it based greatly on my own similar first-time experiences :D**_

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_**B/N: **__After reading and editing this chapter, I must say that things have gotten interesting to say the least, but to each their own. I just edit._

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**Chapter 9: Hidden Desires**

Hermione felt horrible. She couldn't believe how blind she was. To think, she had been so wrong about elves. Daphne was right, she was as bad as Malfoy... trying to judge without proper understanding. But another thing worried her even more. Hermione could hear annoyance in Daphne's voice and she couldn't bear the thought of having driven her new friend away. How could she be so stupid? Why did she have to fail so miserably?

A thoughtful expression on her face changed to a sad one and she had to fight tears that were ready to run from her eyes. The next moment Hermione felt an unexpected embrace and saw blond hair before her eyes. She felt warmth of another girl's body against her. Hermione froze. Was Daphne hugging her?

"Hey," she heard Daphne's voice whispering into her ear. "I didn't mean to upset you." Hermione felt her fingers brushing her hair. "I had some worrisome things on my mind and was harsh to you without a reason. I'm very sorry."

What was that on her cheek? Did she really feel it? Had Daphne just kissed her on the cheek? She had been kissed for the first time in her life by someone aside from her parents and that was a girl? And Daphne at that? Hermione began to blush furiously.

She couldn't sit still anymore; she had to get away from all these strange feelings that were almost burning inside of her. She jumped up and mumbled, "I ha-have to go, need to look up some... something in a b-b-book." Then she rushed off from the Great Hall, her face still red as a tomato.

Hermione stormed off to the first place she could think of. Coincidentally, it was the girl's toilet on the second floor. She closed herself in a stall and sighed, trying to calm down, her heart still beating hard and fast.

"You again!" The bushy-haired witch turned around and saw Myrtle glaring at her. "Came to whine here again?" Myrtle asked teasingly and smiled, "Rather early this year."

"Not you again..." Hermione groaned.

"You should have thought about choosing another bathroom if you didn't want to see me," said Myrtle. "So, were you dumped?" At that ghost laughed.

"No, I was kissed!"

Myrtle stopped laughing and moaned, "Not fair... no one ever kissed me... that's unfair..." With that she flew away leaving a relieved Hermione alone.

The bushy-haired witch closed her eyes and looked at the ceiling. '_That can't be true. She had to be mocking me. Why would a girl like her be so friendly to me? She is probably laughing at my stupidity along with the whole Great Hall. I'm so stupid._'

* * *

Daphne was worried that she ruined all her work by reprimanding Hermione on elves that harsh, when she saw tears forming on bushy-haired girl's eyes. She had to do something, so she did the best thing she could think of: she hugged her and apologized. And then she kissed her just like she had been doing to her sister few years ago. Daphne didn't do it intentionally, she was just reminded of those now almost forgotten moments when she had been calming down distraught little Astoria. One time when she was attacked by muggle boys for being a 'freak' and was crying until Daphne calmed her down. Another time Astoria did accidental magic and almost killed herself with it. Astoria was afraid to do magic again, but Daphne still managed to make her comfortable with magic. Daphne couldn't stand to be around her now, because Astoria did have a chance for a normal life unlike her, but had to accept, that she still loved and missed her.

Daphne shook her head in worry about ruining everything by kissing her. '_What the bloody hell am I doing today? Why the hell am I so emotional? Bloody Potter... I'll kill him for ruining the whole day._' she cursed inwardly. When she looked at Hermione leaving the Great Hall, she could only hope that everything would work out. Then she chuckled and muttered, "I think I broke her."

"Indeed," Harry said looking at her rather amused, "You did."

Daphne gave him a smile stood up and said to Harry, "Come, I have to talk to you."

"I'll see you later, Ron," Harry said standing up hearing the red-head muttering something about bloody Slytherins. Still, Harry was very surprised that Ron managed to remain that calm in Daphne's presence.

They went to the same classroom where they talked before. She locked the door with a complex charm in hopes that it would be enough. She sat down on the teacher's table crossing one leg over the other and pointed Harry to sit before her. When he did so, she was surprised to see him blush. Daphne followed his gaze and then looked at him with a grin. "Perving on my legs, Harry?"

"I'm not!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, you don't like my legs?" she asked him slyly.

"No... I mean..."

"You're saying I'm ugly?"

"No! That's not what I mean! I like your legs very much!," he said looking down, slowly getting red.

"So, you like my legs?" she asked slowly recrossing her legs.

That did it: he got as red as Hermione dozen minutes ago. "Ugh...I better shut up," he groaned.

She laughed and shook her head. "You're so easy to tease," she said and continued in a serious tone "Earlier today, I was a bit disturbed by your story about Voldemort and had to have a break." She was uncomfortable for lying about that to him. Daphne knew that she would like to know if she were destined to die. However she didn't want him to freak out right now. Besides she was sure that she would find a solution.

She wondered, if she was right about Dumbledore knowing about Harry's scar. But even if she was right, Daphne doubted that he had some bad intentions. He was a good man. He was, probably, searching for a way to remove the soul from the scar without killing Harry, but had no idea how to do that. To tell Harry about Voldemort's soul was equal to taking away Harry's hope for a future. Even if he had a few years to live, it was probably for the better that he didn't know. At least Harry would have a chance at a bit of happiness.

"Now, I have to ask: how did you evade me earlier today?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I used the Cloak" he answered avoiding her eyes.

"Do you think that I'm dumb?" She raised an eyebrow. "Tell me how you avoided me. Do you want me to use the ring every time I speak to you?"

"I have a map of Hogwarts that shows positions of every person in the castle and on the grounds" he said with a sigh of defeat.

"How... interesting... show me."

"Eh... I can't" he answered. "I left it in my trunk."

"Later then," she said disappointed. "And the last topic... I have to punish you for avoiding me."

He paled not quite sure, what would be the punishment, and exclaimed, "But I won't do it again, I promise!"

"Sure you won't," she said and grinned. "Do you remember what I said when I asked you to be my slave? I have certain drives, Harry, and you gave me a perfect opportunity to get something I wanted to for years. I didn't want it to get out, but with you I'm safe, because you won't tell anyone about it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Daphne paused wondering if she had to use the ring and decided against it. For now. "Stand up and get on your knees before me."

She bit on her lower lip in anticipation, while seeing him kneeling before her. She grinned again seeing how he couldn't bring himself to look before him at her legs, instead examining the floor. "Take off my shoes" she said and began to breath a bit faster when he obeyed. "And stockings."

"W-what?" he mumbled looking at her knee high dark-grey stockings.

"Pull them... off," she repeated.

His hands were trembling when he touched her legs and began to get her stockings off. Daphne blushed feeling his hands sliding down her legs. But she was hesitating to get to the next step. The fact that she was hesitant annoyed her, because she wanted it and couldn't bring herself to ask him. She was quite afraid that he would think that she was sick and insane, but she wanted it so badly... Daphne recalled when she felt it for the first time. Everything started with a quite innocent scene in a muggle movie she saw the summer after the first year. She was always into dominating other people, but she was so fascinated with what she saw... When Harry became her slave, she couldn't help but ask him to kiss her feet almost immediately. And that felt wonderful.

She sighed and decided to try something easy first, "Massage my feet, Harry." While he was doing it she watched him carefully and was glad to see that he was enjoying it. "Want to kiss my feet?" she asked teasingly, when his face got a bit closer to her legs.

"What?" he asked in a trembling voice. "I... No... I don't."

"So, you don't like my feet?" she asked faking hurt in her voice.

"N-No, I... I mean, everything about you... is perfect."

She blushed and said, "Then kiss them." Seeing his hesitation, she used her ring and repeated the order, turned on by the power she had over him. She closed her eyes when his lips touched her foot and held her breath, clutching table desk with her hands. What a great feeling! Daphne felt like a goddess. When she looked at him again she was pleased that he didn't dislike it and Daphne decided to do it. She wouldn't dare to ask that if he didn't. She had to if she wanted to fulfill her wishes. It was a perfect moment. But it was still very difficult to ask; "L... Li..." The word failed to leave her mouth, so she took a deep breath and uttered only one single word while using the ring "L-lick."

* * *

Later that night Harry approached the Fat Lady, who wasn't happy with him being outside of the Gryffindor common room so late past the curfew. But it was a common occurrence for him, besides the raven-haired wizard had other things to worry about. He was very disturbed by the 'punishment'. He was conflicted. Sure Harry was a bit humiliated, but what worried him more is that he liked everything she ordered him to do. Daphne had to use the ring, but that only turned him on. He was rather glad she used the ring for the last two orders, because he didn't have to decide if he was sick for being turned on by her orders. On the other hand he was a bit amused that Daphne looked very insecure and almost vulnerable when she gave him the last order. Harry noticed that it cost her a great deal to get herself to say it. He was sure that if he'd say something she wouldn't give him the last order, but for some reason he stayed silent in anticipation of it.

'_I'm sick,_' he thought with a sigh. He entered the Gryffindor common room and found Hermione sitting at the couch. She looked at the book case clearly lost in thoughts and didn't notice him sitting down next to her.

"Hey, Hermione" he said.

She started and let out a sigh. "Oh, Harry, it's only you."

He smiled and asked, "Who else?" Hermione smiled but remained silent. "What's wrong?" he inquired.

"Daphne. Was she laughing at me? Why did she k-kiss me? Was she mocking me? Why would she be so friendly to me?" she asked.

He was wondering the same thing, but he couldn't find a reason. Perhaps there was no reason aside that Daphne wanted to be her friend. "Well," he answered, "It was quite funny when you stormed off..." he teased her and said, "But I doubt she's faking it. I mean, it looked quite genuine and she isn't a person who would mock you like this." He looked at her and could see that she wasn't convinced. "Besides," he continued, "Why wouldn't she like you? You're the most brilliant witch at Hogwarts and you're the friend everyone would wish for and I'm extremely lucky you consider me one."

She blushed and suddenly hugged him, whispering "Thank you. I couldn't ask for a better friend." Then she broke off from the embrace and said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." With that she stood up and headed towards the girl's dormitory.

"Good night, Hermione" he said and smiled.

* * *

Aaaaaand CUT! :D

**A/N 2:** Yeah, I'm a foot fetishist. I discovered this drive of mine when I was eight. That's when I discovered that I like to be a dom as well. I was quite afraid to show it to anyone, thought that everyone would treat me like some freak. It was quite painful to suppress it :D. The scene from above happened to me almost word for word with my classmate when I was fourteen. I used (playfully) a blackmail (he could just ignore) instead of the ring. He and I were in the same shoes: he was afraid I would call him sick because he liked it and I was scared that he would do the same for asking him to do it. Sadly I didn't accept this side of mine until I was sixteen.


	10. Chapter 10: Reasons

**A/N:** Anyway, I've received more than hundred reviews already! I didn't anticipate that, so thanks! :D

There is a chance I'll take this chapter down, since I'm not entirely pleased with it. Wasn't in the right mood while writing it.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Reasons.**

When Harry left Daphne stayed behind in the room. Her bare-footed legs were still dangling from the table. She forgot to ask Harry to put her stockings and shoes back on because her mind was far away from the reality. She couldn't believe that she had done it. Daphne had been so afraid that nobody would understand her, but he understood. He even liked it… she felt free.

With a sigh she pulled on her stockings and put on her shoes and stood up. Daphne collected her thoughts and recalled the incident with Hermione. She hoped that there wouldn't be any far fetching consequences, but Malfoy and other Slytherins could try something against the muggle-born. A Greengrass heiress kissing a Gryffindor muggle-born girl, who is friends with Harry Potter, isn't an everyday sight.

"Elly!" she called and a moment later a female house-elf appeared with an almost silent pop.

"Elly is here, young Mistress!" the elf said eagerly.

"I would like you to keep an eye on Hermione Granger, a muggle-born from the Gryffindor House. She's in fourth year. If someone attacks her or tries to do something to her, notify me immediately. If I'm somehow unreachable take her somewhere safe. If you need help, ask Sandy. And try to stay unseen."

"Elly will do as asked, young Mistress!" said the elf happily.

"Thank you, Elly. You may go now," Daphne said with a smile.

The elf disapparated and Daphne headed to the Slytherin Dungeons. Unsurprisingly she was greeted by Tracey, who had a thousand questions regarding her second disappearance in a single day. Oh, how Daphne wanted to share everything with Tracey. The red-head was the only person who knew about her hidden desires, but sadly Tracey needed at least six months to master occlumency.

After a shower they went to their beds and said good-night to each other. However Daphne couldn't sleep; the day had been too intense. After an hour of tossing and turning she cursed and gave up on sleep. Instead she decided to ruminate on all her goals for the year.

The first goal: Harry Potter. She'd already made him her slave. Now she had to make him study to reach his potential. She hated that the dunderhead wasted his time fooling around and playing quidditch. Sure it would be acceptable if he had a few years to live, but she had to find a way to keep him alive so Daphne wanted him to do something useful for a change. She wanted him to be strong, because otherwise the difference in their power would be huge by the time she would go through the ritual. And that would annoy her darker half.

Furthermore she had to do extensive research on soul magic; horcruxes in particular. Daphne already had a few ideas, but they were either useless or dangerous. Hit him with the killing curse in hopes that he wouldn't die? Get a dementor to suck Voldemort's soul out of him? Too dangerous. She doubted that any of this would work. However, there was a solution. Daphne owned Harry, his body, mind and… soul. She could transfer the soul piece to herself, but that wouldn't solve the problem. Instead of him, it would be Daphne who would need to die. The blonde hoped, however, that there would be a way to use rings to extract the soul out of the scar without transferring it to her. But as far as she knew that wouldn't be possible.

She knew that horcruxes could be destroyed through extreme heat and a few rare substances that were destructive towards magic. But she couldn't crisp Harry and other substances like basilisk venom were useless as well. To destroy the horcrux Harry would have to stay under the exposure of the substance long enough for Harry's magic to be destroyed. Well… that was something at least. He would become a squib, but stay alive. '_No, that's stupid,_' she argued inwardly, '_The chance of him dying is too high. Not an option at all._'

Then there was Hermione and Weasley. She had to get the weasel out of the picture and Hermione to agree to be her slave. The problem the girl would never accept it, but Daphne already had a plan how to trick her into it. It was the incident in the Great Hall that gave her the idea. But she had to wait.

Aside from all of this, she had her training to become an animagus. She already knew her form and had gotten through the most difficult part in the summer, but she still had a lot of work to do. Perhaps she could talk Harry into it as well, but he wasn't quite skilled enough. She frowned at that and sighed. He wouldn't be ready to do a transformation for at least another year even if he studied hard. Hermione on the other hand was capable enough. It was worrisome that Harry and Weasley had dragged her down along with them. She would be on quite a different level without them… or have been killed by that troll. On the other hand it was the Weasel's fault that she had to be saved at all. But anyway, first she had to get the ring on her finger.

She closed her eyes and finally fell asleep.

::::

Aside from Malfoy being turned into a ferret, the next day seemingly brought nothing new to Harry. Well, Moody's punishment had been priceless and it made his day. He smirked. But still… for the first half of it he didn't even see Daphne. They met only in Potions but he had no chance to speak to her because she left as soon as the class ended. He found that upsetting for some reason. Hermione on the other hand told him that they talked to each other in Ancient Runes. He frowned when he heard that and wished he had chosen Runes instead of Divination.

Evening, however, was very surprising. He was going with Ron to the Gryffindor Tower when he heard an unfamiliar female voice. Harry turned around and saw a first-year girl who was watching at him with interest. He would probably have ignored her or told her that he was busy because girls were troublesome, but he couldn't tell it to this particular girl. It was Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's sister.

"Mate, let's go" Ron ushered him.

"I'll catch up later" Harry said.

"Whoa, what's up with you and girls lately?" the red-head groaned.

"Maybe you should look at girls too," he answered recalling his last evening with Daphne. "You can have a lot of fun with them, you know?"

"Oh come on, I'll be in the common room," Ron said and left.

Harry snickered and turned to Astoria hesitating to speak with her. She looked at him intently and stayed silent. He noticed that she was as beautiful as her sister, but something was different. He shivered uncomfortably. '_What's wrong with Greengrasses?_' he thought. '_Why do I feel attracted to both of them?_' In fact she had the same effect on him as her older sister. Much weaker but it was there. But something else troubled him. He assumed it was because Daphne enslaved him, he felt wary of her, but no, he had the same feelings with Astoria. It felt like a very dangerous predator was near. '_She's eleven. She can't be dangerous, can she?_'

"You feel it?" she asked clearly surprised.

"Feel what?" he asked wondering how she knew what he thought about.

She shook her head and said, "Nothing." He hoped she would just say what she wanted, but he wasn't lucky.

"So, how can I help you, Miss Greengrass?" he asked.

"You don't have to be so formal. Call me Astoria, please," she said with a smile.

"Eh… okay, Astoria."

"I'm not familiar with the castle and I want you to lead me someplace where we can speak privately."

'_What's with Greengrasses and their need to command?_' he groaned inwardly and spoke, "Follow me then."

He didn't have to think, Harry just led her to the some classroom that somehow became a meeting place with Daphne. Once there, he sat down with satisfaction on the teacher's table and waited for Astoria to take a place before him. However, she sat down next to him to avoid letting him have the 'higher ground'. He sighed causing her to laugh.

"You're funny," she said and explained, "I'm a Greengrass, and we don't like to take lower seats."

"You've seen through it… You're as smart as your sister," he said.

"No, my sister is much smarter." Astoria grinned and looked down staying silent for a few moments. "Did she use the ring on you?" She asked in a sad voice.

"How do you know?" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry, my mind is protected. We're taught occlumency from the age of five. So she did use them and they probably worked."

Harry was afraid that the ring would crucify him, but he felt nothing when he nodded. Strange. He let her know about it, why wasn't he punished by the ring? Is that because she guessed it herself? Does that mean that he could use… '_Loopholes!_' he exclaimed inwardly. '_She told Hemione about elves and loopholes, how could I miss the point? Why am I so stupid? I can use loopholes!_' He smiled happily.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he replied.

"Really?" she asked raising an eyebrow. Then she sighed and said "I'm sorry that she did that to you. I and mother saw her taking the rings from the vault. She isn't as subtle as she thinks. We had no idea that they would work and, well, we don't have any say in this matter. She's the heiress and can do with her property as she wishes. Father didn't mind, since he didn't believe that the rings had any power. And I doubt father expected her to use them on you." She gave him a sad smile. "You have to understand that she did it for me. She tries to keep me safe using everything she has. She's not evil, it's the opposite, she's a very caring person. She's just like all Greengrasses. The family comes always first."

"What do you mean she keeps you safe?" he asked dumbfolded.

"It's not my place to tell. She'll tell you in time. I'm sure of it," Astoria answered and sighed. "Do you have some feelings towards her?"

"W-what?" he asked blushing.

She smiled and teased, "You're blushing like a little girl."

"Shut up," he said looking away.

"But really, do you have feelings?"

He shrugged and answered, "I don't know. She's beautiful and I… like her… well, it's difficult to not like her." Harry blushed looking nervously at Astoria, "Are all females in your family so stunningly beautiful?"

Astoria turned red at that and looked away from him. "It's a family trait."

"Well, a convenient trait," he said. "As for feelings… I don't know… I'm angry with her because of what she did to me, but at the same time I feel better knowing that I can just relax for a change and do as she says." He frowned and muttered "You probably think I'm insane." Harry was suddenly wondering why he was telling this girl everything.

"I don't know enough about you to say that." Astoria grinned. "But I can understand the feeling. Sometimes, when I'm upset, it's easy for me to just do what mother tells me. Maybe it's similar. But at the same time my mother has always told me that I shouldn't take an easy route. My sister is very smart, but she's human and fourteen at that. She makes many mistakes. You shouldn't get used to just doing what she says. Sure it'd be easier, but you should try to do what is right and what you must."

He sighed and looked down. "It's embarrassing" he said.

"What?"

"I'm being lectured by a girl three years younger than me. How stupid am I?"

"It's only two years and forty days," she huffed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you," he said quickly. "It's just… I feel stupid."

"Well, you are!" Astoria exclaimed. "I don't even want to know how you managed to get the ring on your finger and activate it. I do know that you have to willingly accept it. It's more your fault than hers. Really." She sighed. "But you avoided my question. Do you have any feelings?"

"Why would my feelings matter? I'm just her slave."

"It does matter," the girl answered seriously. "You may be able to make her happy. I want her to be happy. She's sacrificing too much for me and probably compensating the lack of freedom by doing something stupid to you. Don't be too angry with her please."

"What does she sacrifice?"

"I have no right to say, because I'm not an heiress. It's a family matter. I'm sorry. But you have to know that she has to like you if she chose you for the ring. She could choose a random muggle, but chose you."

He froze at her words and asked, "She likes me?"

"She might find some excuses and lie to herself… she's doing that all the time. But in the end, yes, she has to like you. When father learns about you, he'll be very angry at her. It will be a blow to family's reputation when the world learns that she enslaved the Boy-Who-Lived. Nothing big, we even gained eleventh seat on the Wizengamon, but still... It's surprising that she went against the family, but I guess she wanted to be happy. And I have to say, she looked very happy yesterday when she kissed that girl… what was her name?"

"Hermione" Harry said.

"Yes, Hermione" Astoria nodded. "I haven't seen her act like this in years. She used to be very kind and…"

"That's enough." They both heard a very familiar voice as the door opened and Daphne entered the room. "I didn't ask you to interfere, sister," she said coldly.

"But Daphne…" Astoria tried to argue.

"Get out of here," Daphne interrupted her.

Astoria winced and sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, Daph," she said and whispered to Harry, "Don't give up." Then she smiled and left the classroom.


	11. Chapter 11: Blood and Convict

**A/N: **_Enjoy another chapter. Decided to keep the chapter 10 as it is, but I'm still unsatisfied with it :D _

_Have posted a "V's Weekly" in my profile :D A list out of 25 stories that might be interesting. The list was generated via dark magic, so I didn't have a chance to read them all and check if the stories are alright though._

**B/N:** Sorry everyone, the chapter was delayed due to the lack of time I had to beta-read it. AP tests were this week, and if anybody else has been taking them, you know how bad it is. Once again, I apologize for my delay in beta-ing.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Blood and Convict.**

Daphne was furious. She stood in front of Harry, but had no idea what to say or do. Why did her sister have to interfere? Daphne didn't expect it and she didn't know what Astoria had told Harry. Hopefully not much, because it could ruin everything. Daphne looked at Harry nervously and then sighed. No, he didn't know everything.

"Why were you so cold with her?" Harry asked.

"Because I hate her!" snapped Daphne.

"But she told me that you're protecting her…" said Harry.

Daphne sighed again, placed locking charms on the door and took a place next to him. She had to remind herself that it wasn't his fault, he was just curious. And he didn't know that he was upsetting her.

"It's difficult," she said. "I… I care for her. But at the same time I hate her, because she doesn't have to sacrifice her life…"

"Life?" Harry exclaimed.

"That was a metaphor. I meant happiness, emotions, love and many other things. In the end if you don't have these things, you don't truly live. I could run away and my father would disown me. He wouldn't be happy with me, but I think he would understand. I would probably be happy. My sister, however, would have to take my place. She wouldn't be able to run away. The same will happen if I fail. I can't let this happen."

"What do you mean by fail?"

"Die," she answered. "And I don't want to speak about that."

"But…"

"Just no, Harry. I'll tell you eventually. But not right now."

"Uh…okay," he said. "Would you tell me what she meant when she said that you gained eleventh seat on Wizengamot?"

Daphne groaned in annoyance and said, "Do you really want to know? It's pretty boring." She watched him for a moment and sighed. "Alright. What do you know about the Wizengamot?"

"Well, it's a parliament right?"

"Almost. It's more than muggle parliament. It has a judicative function as well. Anyway, there are seventy seven seats on Wizengamot. Your family was quite new and had only one seat. It belongs to me now. Our family and the Blacks are the oldest in the wizarding world. But we never were a big family, so we had ten seats while Blacks had fifteen, before they lost the last heir…"

"But they have an heir!" Harry exclaimed.

"Sirius Black?" Daphne asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"He's a convict. The moment he was sentenced to Azkaban for life he lost the right to be the heir."

"He's innocent," Harry noted.

"What?" Daphne exclaimed shocked by the revelation. "What do you mean he's innocent? He betrayed your parents, didn't he? He was working for Voldemort and in the third year he tried to kill you. What do you mean he's innocent?"

"My parents were betrayed by Peter Pettigrew who then framed Sirius by faking his death. In the third year he was trying to get to Pettigrew, who was living as Ron's rat. He is an animagus."

"Are you sure?" she asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh.

That was wonderful news. If Sirius Black is innocent, then he's obviously not a pure-blood supremacist. That could be very advantageous for the family's influence. Maybe they could retake control of the Wizengamot again. She glanced at Harry and noted that he was very worried. It was obvious that he was somehow close to the convict.

"You care about him, don't you?" she asked and seeing that Harry was hesitating, she continued, "Don't be afraid to tell me about him. If he's innocent, my family has every reason to make sure he's exonerated. Black's seats went right into hands of lesser families. Malfoys had only three seats, but now they have eight. Crabbes got three seats from Blacks and Notts another three. Bloody marriages. That ruined the balance of the Wizengamot. The Blacks and Greengrasses kept other families at bay the whole time. Blacks were always purists, but not to the extreme. It was more about history and traditions. But then the late head of the Black's family Arcturus Black lost control over his own family. They supported Voldemort and he couldn't disown the all of them. I saw him talking with my father a few years ago when he was still alive. He looked devastated, because his last hope, Sirius Black turned out to be as bad as the rest of the family."

"But he isn't bad."

"Well, Arcturus didn't know that. He was just an old broken man that blamed himself for the end of a family with a very long history. Anyway, if we can prove that Sirius Black is innocent, and he didn't work for Voldemort, he'll regain his rights and the Death Eaters will lose much of their influence" she explained, then questioned "Why do you care so much?"

"He's my godfather and he was one of the best friends of my parents," Harry said and then continued angrily, "He was so close to the freedom in the third year. If not for Snape… But without evidence almost no one believed that he was innocent."

"I'll send a message to my father. He'll be extremely pleased to hear that Black is innocent. But to exonerate him, we'll need his, and probably your, testimony."

"But he can't go to the Ministry" Harry argued.

"Don't worry about that. The warrant for him will be suspended as soon as my father requests a session. We and our allies hold thirty percent of Wizengamot seats. They won't be able to dismiss our claims. Those who can try to get Sirius Black kissed hold about the same amount of seats. Normally it would end in stalemate, because of those who would stay neutral. The current Ministry is bloody useless because of that... However, it will be a trial. And you can't stay neutral in a trial. If we prove he's innocent they won't be able to find him guilty either. So even Malfoys will be forced to declare him innocent."

"But what evidence do we have?"

"Your testimony under veritaserum is more than enough. That will sway a lot of people to our side."

"But Professor Dumbledore said that there is nothing that can be done about it," Harry said in confusion.

"Without me, you wouldn't be able to do something, because no one would believe he's innocent..."

"But you believe me," he said.

She smiled seeing that he was grateful, "Of course, I believe you. You wouldn't lie to your Mistress, would you?"

"N-no," he answered.

"Right."Daphne snorted not quite believing him and continued, "You'd never find enough Wizengamot members to request a session for his cause. If Dumbledore would do that himself, his request would, most likely, be turned down by the vast majority. That would just prove that he was senile and he'd lose his influence in the Wizengamot."

"Oh…" he whispered. "What should I do?"

Daphne shrugged and answered, "Nothing. I'll tell you when you're needed. It will take some time to prepare."

"Should I notify Sirius?"

"I don't know," she said with a frown, "It's dangerous; the owl can be tracked. I'll talk to my father about it."

"Thank you," Harry said after a few seconds. "I mean… It's difficult to find words to tell you how grateful I am."  
"No need to look for them," Daphne said with genuine smile. "We…" She was interrupted, when charms on the door signaled her that someone was trying to enter the room. She glanced at Harry and whispered, "Your Cloak. We're past the curfew."

He jumped off the table and took out the Cloak. A few seconds later they stood in a corner of the room hidden by the Cloak. Daphne scowled at Harry when she felt his hand on her bum and hissed, "Don't touch me like that."

"But I…"

"Silence," she interrupted him ignoring that the boy turned red. She'd be surprised if he wouldn't, because in order to stay hidden under the Cloak they had to embrace each other.

A moment later her locking charms have fallen and Professor Snape, Filch and the cat entered the classroom. Snape looked around and sneered at Filch. "So, you've just wasted my time."

"There were some students hiding in here."

The Slytherin Head rolled his eyes and said, "Obviously they've got away."

"Mrs. Norris, come," Filch said and the trio left the room closing the door.

Harry sighed in relief, but froze when he glanced at Daphne. "What?" he asked.

"Aside that you keep touching my bum with your right hand?" she asked scowling

He jumped off from her and said hurriedly, "I'm sorry."

She locked the door again and turned around. "Well… I think there is another session of punishment waiting for you," she said sitting down the table, stretching her feet. "You know what you have to do, don't you?" she asked with a coy smile.

He blushed and answered, "Yes, Mistress."

* * *

Harry returned to the Gryffindor Tower and climbed on his bed. He glanced at Ron's bed and sighed remembering his promise to Daphne that he would spend more time with Hermione this year. Before she dismissed him today she told him that they wouldn't see each other too often and he didn't have to look for her. He had a lot to do, however. It was quite annoying, but she wanted him to study. And Harry was sure, that he wouldn't like the punishment if he'd failed to follow this particular order. On the other hand he decided to invest more time into his studies himself earlier at the Burrow.

"I guess I have to study more from now on," he mumbled.

He thought back of Daphne and blushed, recalling the 'punishment'. Harry shook his head and dismissed these memories. Astoria was more important right now. She gave him so much new information, but he still had more questions than answers and it seemed that the pile of questions was only growing. He wanted to know what it was in both of them that made him feel like prey. Perhaps he could ask Hermione about that or look it up in the library.

Perhaps the Greengrasses had some non-human blood in them. That was possible. But what kind of being could give them such traits? Veela he saw at Quidditch World Cup? No, they felt completely different and they didn't emanate this scary predatory… aura. Did this have something to do with her sacrifices Astoria spoke of? '_Perhaps_,' he thought nodding to himself. But who could it be? What kind of being or creature?

"Beautiful, seductive and dangerous," he whispered wondering what it could be. Then a thought came to his mind, '_Mermaids…Siren? No, that's ridiculous, isn't it? "_Beautiful, seductive and dangerous," he whispered again.

"Oh, shut up, Potter," Dean Thomas hissed. "Whack off in a bathroom for Merlin's sake. Don't want to hear your moans here."

"I'm not, you idiot," he hissed back.

"Like I care… be silent at least. I want to get some sleep."


End file.
